


Ao no Exorcist: Lewin & Ryuuji

by Blanchefleur



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Begging, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Masturbation, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2018-12-11 22:16:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 21,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11723691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blanchefleur/pseuds/Blanchefleur
Summary: Be informed that this is a one-shot collection of anything that relates to RaiSugu (Lightning x Suguro). Thanks very much!





	1. Walking In (Explicit)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm completely new to writing smut, so please forgive me if I suck. :^]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not awaiting for Ryuuji's response, the professor moved at the lower part of the bed, sat down on the floor and enjoyed the show as if he was in some theater.
> 
> "Oi...!" Alas, the Aria managed to utter, brows furrowed in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.

****Slight misunderstandings, albeit they could contact each other through phone calls and text messages, they still were prone of such. The son of Tatsuma sighed, then headed to the bedroom to change his clothes.

Since there were lots of times Ryuuji had been sleeping in Lightning's house because most of their investigations would reach until dawn, the lad had brought some of his items--clothes, personal items that should be kept near him, then stored them in his bedroom; it was the only place where he could put his things without anyone else finding it.

The latter then plopped himself on top of the almost neglected bed of his mentor, gave their recent text messages another read, fearing that there were things he accidentally skipped. Unfortunately, there wasn't.  _Lightning sure is late..._

Accidentally, the Aria had tapped on the phone icon on his screen, showing the details of his teacher's data, along with Lightning's picture that he had unconsciously put when they first saved each other's phone numbers.

Without his knowledge, his right hand had begun running across his leg, down to his utmost treasure.  _Ah, what the hell am I doing?!_ Ryuuji attempted to pull back, but he heaved another sigh, one that felt completely heavy. Now fully aware of the situation, the young one began placing his hand on his manhood, stroking it from the outside.

"Ngh...," a moan he had been restraining himself from doing had been released, small slashes of red were visible on his face.

The pleasure was taking its toll on him, Ryuuji dropping his cellular phone on his side, and making that hand open the zippers of his school pants.  _I can't take it anymore, damn it!_ The tinges of red he had on his face already had spread across, his heart beat raising, the atmosphere of his surroundings was getting heavier and hotter.

His right hand which he used to open his zippers had also been used to unbutton his school uniform, now looking quite uneven, his pants were off from his waist.  _Ah, shit...!_ "Ligh...," brown-coloured orbitals opened wide, surprised of what he had just uttered. "What am I saying?! Why the hell am I thinking of master while I'm doing this?!" Head turned to the side where his phone was resting, only to see his teacher's face on the screen.

"Ah...," it was a mixture of sighing and moaning, but never did Ryuuji bother at the moment. He moved his left hand back to where it was, laid back and relaxed on the bed. This time, he spread his legs a little wider, letting himself have an access to his ovals, caressing it whilst stroking his treasure up and down repeatedly. His movement had sped up by the time he was in the peak of heat.

There was a small thud, sign that his phone had fallen on the side, but it didn't matter now. His moans' tones were starting to get louder; no matter how hard he tried his best to keep it, it just wouldn't refrain itself confined inside.

"L-Lewin~"

A silhouette moved at the side of the bed, but Ryuuji didn't bother stopping to check but continued pleasuring himself. Normally, he would be alerted that someone else's planning to turn the tables by getting the information they had gathered. But he was too heated to even pay it a glance.

"You dropped your phone, Ryuuji."

_T-That voice...!_

All of his movements had stopped, his hands remained on his groin, his legs still spread out; Ryuuji appeared as if an immovable object. Brun orbs moved to the location where he heard the voice coming from. Albeit it was dark, he had seen his smirk drawn all over his lips.

A message from Rin had arrived, making the younger male's phone lit up. With that, he was able to see the stature of his master, counting his face; Lightning was amused. "Go on, I'm watching," the older man stated, smirk unwavering. 

_W-Watching?! Don't tell me he's...!_

"It would be a waste if you feel embarrassed now, Ryuuji. Are you sure you're going to leave that erected?" Lightning used his usual tone, which made it harder for his apprentice to even move out. Not awaiting for Ryuuji's response, the professor moved at the lower part of the bed, sat down on the floor and enjoyed the show as if he was in some theater.

"Oi...!" Alas, the Aria managed to utter, brows furrowed in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance. "Leave me alone!" He said next, although it didn't sound reasonable enough for the other to leave him in that state. Knowing his teacher would watch him hadn't helped him an inch to get out from this mess; it just made him more excited.

"Leave you alone? This is my room," laughed the man. Another taunt had been released by Lightning. "And... You were thinking about me while masturbating? That's amazing," his tone sounded more likely a provocation than what it actually meant. Ryuuji would be the last person he thought he would be seeing touch himself, but deep inside him, he was telling himself that this wasn't surprising. Somehow, somewhere, his apprentice was still a man; and a man has his needs.

 _I was expecting it was some girl from the academy, but it was actually me,_ there was a small chant of 'holy shit' made in his mind, eyes pinned at the latter.

However, Ryuuji couldn't help it anymore. He was too turned on to stop; Lightning had succeeded then again. The young master of Myoudha ran his hands back to his shaft, thumb moving on its tip in circular manner, making him arch his head upwards in pleasure, teeth gritting so he wouldn't moan, not in front of his master. His other hand held the body of his manhood, and began stroking it up and down, pace speeding up; he was losing energy, mind was starting to go blank, Ryuuji was huffing hard, eyes quite teary because of the embarrassment his master was letting him face.

"Ah, Lightning..."

The Arc Knight's smirk widened, deeply entertained of the little show the younger one was pulling. "Call me the way you called me before I went in the room.  **My first name**."

_F-First...?!_

Albeit he is an American, Lightning surely is aware of the Japanese culture. First name basis would mean that he's close to that person.  _Let's see how far you can hold back, Ryuuji._

"L-Lewin...," moaned the lad, the stiffness of his body had beginning to loosen up, now getting all relaxed. As soon as he mentioned his first name, Ryuuji's groin had started releasing white liquids from its tip.  _Ah, shit! I can't hold back! I'm going to--!_  "Lewin!" With just another utter of his master's name, the young one had released all he could as of the moment.

Lightning stood from his place and looked down at the mess his student did. "It's still throbbing. You look like you need real help~" The paladin's right hand man shrugged. "Didn't I tell you before, if there are things you want to know, or things you just plainly  _want_ , you have to pry it out to me yourself~"

_Torturer... He's living up to his damn other nickname!_

"Lightning...," softly and gently called the teen, eyes pleading. "Help me, you idiot..."

"Ah?" Immediately replied his teacher. "Of course, I will~ But you have to  **beg**."


	2. Stay (Explicit) P1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lightning had assaulted Doctor Dragulesc back at the start of New Year. Because of that, all of his important documents, even his ATM card had all been restricted. He now finds his way to Toraya Ryoukan to meet his apprentice for various reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A'ight. Here we go.

_Infinity Key._

Inserting it in a random door's keyhole, Ryuuji's mentor tilted the knob open, which lead him to a place his brain had commanded him to.  _Toraya Ryoukan._  Walking across, and reaching the end of the seemingly tunnel-looking bridge, the sight of the busy but marvelous city of Kyoto welcomed him. Simultaneous buzzes, fresh air emitting from the west, the occupied streets of the aforementioned city had glittered at the Arc Knight's eyes.

However, it wasn't the time to admire such a place.

Lightning went ahead, delivered himself in front of the said inn's doorstep, no sense of ambiguity was seen at the man's countenance. Sending his hand to slide the wooden door open, a man with a blonde hair, that was preventing his bangs from falling on his face by putting two clips crossed against each other on the side of his head, had done it first.

"...?" The mentally powerless Shima took him a few moments to actually decipher what was going on.

Albeit perplexed, the American only cocked his head slightly to the side, flashed his usual smile with that of an unpredictable purpose, and waited to whatever lay behind the teen's tongue.

"...!" A gasp escaped his lips. "Bon! I got your teacher in the house!"

"Oh, you know me?" Effortlessly asked the Texan.

"Who wouldn't? You're Lightning, and damn amazing!" Even though Kinzou had done his best to contain his excitement upon seeing an Arc Knight stand before him, he actually really couldn't. But holding back of hitting Renzou whenever he see him was more impossible.

There was no response from their young master, thus Kinzou had no choice but to accompany Lightning inside. "Get in, I'll find Bon," assured the teenager, happily grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Juuzou, you monkey--" the oldest of the Houjou sisters' words had trailed off in the mid-air as she saw the image of the right hand man of the paladin inside the Suguro Ryoukan. "Lightning, the Arc Knight?  **Here?!** " The white-haired female gave the summoner a bow of respect before calling for Ryuuji this time. "Ryuuji-sama! Ryuuji-sama! Your mentor, Lightning the Arc Knight, is here!"

_So he's really a big person in his home, huh? And they really call him 'Bon'. That's cute~_

"Mamushi, what's wrong? Kinzou told me someone impor--" Ryuuji's words stopped as soon as he turned his head towards the entrance of their inn. "M-Master?! Why are you here?!" Asked the Aria in surprise, which Lightning had anticipated.

_No calls or texts; I wasn't even informed before I went here. Maybe... Something urgent?_

"Ah, the type of greeting I least expected," replied Lightning, tone sounded cheery--his usual. "You see, my accounts and my documents had been locked because of the assault I recently did. So... From the money I'd withdrawn last week, I only have $75 left here with me."

"Meaning...?" Confirmed the young master, confused of the purpose of Lightning's visit.

"I was wondering if I could stay here for the meantime since I could afford a three-day stay here in your inn. Staying at my place would only make me buy my favourites and $75 wouldn't hold that long. Besides, I don't know when the Vatican would lift my restrictions. Going here is the best option among everything I have in mind," explained the older male which also had been heard by Mamushi and Juuzou who just recently came.

Asking no more, Ryuuji let Lightning inside Toraya Ryoukan further, leading him to the Dining Hall. There were several small brown tables on the floor, pillows resting next to it. Some tables had already used plates and utensils, sign that people had already finished eating their part.

At the corner of the room were two vacant seats which Lightning's student thought would be a good choice--to avoid gathering other people's attention since he's a known person in the Order. "You haven't eaten anything, right? We still have a good amount of extra Onigiri to be served to the occupants; help yourself up."

"Wow, you really are reliable, Ryuuji!" Lightning sat at the very corner of the room whilst his student was next to him. He took a few Onigiri to eat, then licked the leftovers on the fingers of his left hand, slowly sliding it inside Ryuuji's sweat jeans.

_What the hell is this man planning?!_

Lightning effortlessly used his poncho to cover his naughty hand; making him appear like he was using his arm to get himself something to lean on.

Brows furrowing, Ryuuji turned to him with a determined facial expression and began attempting to remove his master's hand off from him. "Lightning, let go!"

A smirk only crawled on the foreigner's lips.

"Ryuuji, I heard your mentor--" Torako's voice was left hanging upon seeing in person the Arc Knight they were talking about. Tatsuma smiled, and lead their way in front of the two. "Good day, Light-san. I am Torako, Ryuuji's mother. And this is Tatsuma-san, his father, my husband. Thank you for taking care of our Bon!" She bowed her head in front of the older man, one that was full of respect.

"Ah, it's actually the other way around~ He's been a great apprentice~"

Questions filled their facial expressions, both heads turning to their child. "I understand now, Ryuuji," began Tatsuma. "He was the reason why you have changed so much. I can say he has been a great mentor as well!"

"Aww, you're making me blush~" The Arc Knight pressed his wet middle finger at the hole located behind his apprentice, making the teen arch his head upwards, his body strenghtening.

_W_ _ha--?!_

A tint of grin was seen on that smirk of his, totally amused of noticing the other's reaction.

"I... Yeah, uh, h-he's a great teacher...!" Brown orbs glanced at the side only to feel annoyed witnessing how he was having so much fun.

Brows forming in a narrow of worry, Torako didn't remove her purple gazes away from her son. "Why is your teacher here, Ryuuji? Did something happen again?"

"A...About that, mom... Master is quite in a pinch...!" He paused for a bit when he felt Lightning's middle finger pull back. The latter held his breath until the second-in-rank exorcist pressed it back in. "I-If possible, can you, uh, let him stay here? He had his things, including his money, locked because of his recent doings," whilst in the middle of explanation, the lad let out a yelp which he was able to handle soon. "Uh, s-so... Will that be okay?"

"Before we answer...," his mother started composing her response. "...Are you feeling well, Ryuuji? You had been making unnecessary sounds."

He turned to his master; the facial expression he was making was telling the bearer of Karura to keep it to himself, else he'd make things harder for him.  _Although, I don't need to tell that to him~_ His amusement was only returned with sharp glares, but Lightning could identify a tinge of begging in that face he made.

_Begging for me to stop, or begging for me to continue? Ahahaha~_

"Yeah, ah... I'm...f-feeling good...," replied the Aria.

Lightning chuckled, his right hand grabbing another piece of Onigiri and ate them whilst his left hand kept moving back and forth, pleasuring his apprentice more.

_Ah. How the hell can I hold back...?_

Torako clasped her hands together, relieved of what she heared. "That's great!

"S...So, will it also be okay to not let him pay? He's c-currently broke," the lad gasped, then gulped to cover his vulnerability.

"Since Light-san has been taking care of you well, we can only return our gratitude by offering this little Toraya Ryoukan for his needs. Is it okay, Tatsuma-san?" Torako turned to her husband.

The head priest smiled. "No problem!"

Ryuuji shifted his gazes towards his parents, his breathing beginning to get heavier. "C-Can I talk to master for a bit, mom, dad?"

"Ah, sure!" His father agreed. "Let's go, Torako," the oldest man invited her wife, giving another bow of respect before finally leaving.

Mad and annoyed, Ryuuji glanced at Lightning, his middle finger still moving in and out from his apprentice's hole. The young male twitched again until he had decided to uncover his brown eyes only to see his master leaning the elbow of his right arm, looking at the dark-haired lad in full amusement, grown smirk on his lips. "A'ight. What does young master want?"

_Y-Young ma--?!_

"Stop playing dumb, you idiot!" He said, blushes of embarrassment all over his face.

"You really told them to go? You're seriously amazing, Ryuuji~"

"I had no choice!" Retorted the teen. "I told you to control yourself, but here you are!"

"Can you control yours? Hold back?" He asked, eyes hiding behind his noir-coloured hair were starting to get quite visible. "Ahaha~" Cutting off the chase, he glanced straight at his pupil. "Going back to my question... What does the young master want?"

_He sure knows I can't hold back any longer, yet he does this! It doesn't mean he's a torturer, he should also--_

"I... W-Want..."

Lightning awaited for his answer, but his middle finger kept doing its job. "Want?"

"I want--," although he was twitching because of his teacher's movement, he still managed to look down to avoid the unseen gazes of the other. "You."

"Me?" Cleared the older man. "Before I took you as an apprentice, I did tell you you have to tell me the things you want to say, or want to learn so I can get a grasp of your point. If you're like this, I wouldn't get to comprehend what you're trying to imply, you know~" he tortured the other more.

Eyes clamping in embarrassment, hands crumpling in ball shape, the young master of Myoudha immediately answered the paladin's friend. "S-Stop acting stupid! What I'm trying to say is I--! I want  **you**!"

Entertained enough, the Arc Knight began a slightly proper response. "Alright. Lead me to your room~"

Swallowing more of his pride and leaving a small amount of it, Ryuuji stood from his place, Lightning's finger intentionally removed from the demeanour his apprentice did, then his student began marching onward the door leading outside the dining room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've inputted Infinity Key as Lightning's usable key instead of Magic Key because he can access different branches from different parts of the world (assuming he used it to reach Drac Dragulesc at the time of New Year as well). Although I'll make it clear that it wasn't mentioned, confirmed or indicated in the manga.
> 
> Lightning really didn't have only $75 with him, but his things really were restricted. The lack of money was only his 'strategy' to do stuff with Ryuuji.
> 
> It was only a pure guess that $75 was enough for a three-day stay in Toraya (regarding above, $75 was a play--). However, if my hunch is correct that Toraya is patterned to a luxurious ryoukan in Kyoto named Tawaraya (since I haven't read any confirmation that it really was), then $75 isn't even near to stay in the ryoukan for half a day. I guess people call him 'Bon' for a reason. :^] (Ryuuji would still let him stay since he's his mentor, anyway).


	3. Stay (Explicit) P2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albeit the Goma-do has been destroyed because of the now-defeated Impure King, its ruins could still be put to use. Silence, rustling of leaves, peace, no one to interrupt him and Lightning from their way of showing affection towards each other.

Under the rooftop made with blue tiled hogyou was where the blonde Shima had been running around non-stop, his quick footsteps echoing on the nightingale floor of Kyoto Branch Office. To his right was Ao Houjou, next to her was Nishiki. Asking them about the whereabouts of Ryuuji would be a suicide for another petty argument.

With such a conclusion, he ignored them.

"Have you seen Bon?" Asked Kinzou to a worker of Toraya Ryoukan.

The female assistant shook her head.

 _Alright. Where the hell did Bon go? I was about to play this new music I created using my Tsugaru-jamisen, but it's gonna go to damn waste! Never mind Renzou._ His expression brightened upon remembering a certain part of the Myoudha Sect.  _His room! How the hell can I forget?_ Immediately, he paid the young master's room a visit.  _He should be here, else I don't know._ "Bon?" Called the blonde male, purposely making his shadow appear against the room's shouji so Ryuuji would know that someone was outside.

 _No response? Ah, to hell with it, then!_ Kinzou placed his right hand on the sliding door, ready to gently glide it open.

_"How do you want it done, Ryuuji?" Asked Lightning, still onto teasing the other. "You quite have the bulge."_

_Infuriated, he replied, "N-No matter how it's damn done!" The son of Tatsuma was close to a state where he couldn't get to think straight due to the incredible heat he was feeling. The mixture of anger and embarrassment Ryuuji was showing had two reasons; he wanted it done and over with soon, and he wanted the Arc Knight for himself._

_'Ryuuji is a good person; should I still give him a hard time?' Lightning chuckled to himself. "Let's get down to business, Ryuuji. Are you ready?"_

_"What kind of damn question is that?" Quickly fired the latter._

_Lightning effortlessly threw his apprentice against the wall, making Ryuuji place both of his palms on it to stop the impact of his mentor's strength. His back facing the Arc Knight now, a wicked smirk carved on the second-in-rank exorcist's lips--had he been awaiting for this moment, Lightning couldn't hold back. It has been quite a long time since the last time they actually had physcial and emotional contact with each other._

_He walked towards his student, intentionally leaning his body behind the heated up Ryuuji, right hand grabbing the latter's manhood, amused to see him catch for air as he had done such. Lightning then rubbed his raised shaft behind the other, making the Aria gulp, twitch and straighten his body, but certainly he was pushing his back against his teacher._ _He wanted it._

_He chuckled. "Wow, that move surely is naughty!~ Seems like you're really turned on now huh, Ryuuji?"_

_The young one made no response, except for heavy pants._

_"Gee, I'll gladly oblige~" The American pulled the bearer of Karura's hips towards him to get a more convenient way to enter the other. He positioned himself on the young one's back hole, as he slowly conquered Ryuuji once again. "Oh, shit," commented Lightning upon finding out how exactly it was hard to enter him undoubtedly because of his tightness. "Damn it, Ryuuji. You're hella tight!" He uttered again, his Texan accent sounded authentic._

_Ryuuji's pants were now more audible, rounds tears formed at the brim of his brown orbs. It was painful, but never did he dislike it._

_Without warning, the dark-haired mentor of his began pulling back. Both of his hands were on Ryuuji's hips, gripping it tighter. Then, he pulled his hips towards him at the same motion he slammed his rod back inside. Lightning started pounding the young lad hard._

_"Ah...," it was the first moan Ryuuji had been preventing to let loose. But with his master like this, it was near impossible to keep them inside. "Lightning... Lightning...," unsure what he actually wanted to communicate, Ryuuji only kept calling the Arc Knight in the middle of his quick breathing as if chanting his name._

_Moments later, the seemingly slightly unrelaxed teen had finally loosen up from the continuous pounding of his mentor, making it easier for the man of the Four Greats to access the deepest parts of him. The strength Lightning was giving Ryuuji was starting to make him lose balance--like when he lost the energy to hold the barrier back in their battle with the Impure King--face now flat against the wall he was using for assistance._

_Noticing this, Lightning carried his apprentice and made him lie on the floor, facing him. Before him was a vulnerable student of his, blushing furiously, sweating badly, traces of drooling were undeniably visible on his face. "Y'know," began Lightning using his native tongue. "Making that face won't make me stop."_

_"I...," replied Ryuuji whilst trying to get some air as his mentor paused his movements for a bit. "...never said I want you to."_

_Albeit hidden behind the raven-coloured hair of his, eyes had grown wider, making his groin throb and yearn for the latter more._ _"Ryuuji, you're making things hard for me."_

_Even though tired, the student still managed to form a smile of provocation towards the other, chuckling slightly._

_"Don't tell me I didn't warn you," ended Lightning, slamming inside Ryuuji now, back and forth._

_Ryuuji arched his head upwards, eyes shutting close, hands falling on the ruined wooden flooring of Goumadou. It crumpled, opened, moved around as if reaching for something he didn't exactly had any idea what of, until it wrapped themselves around the exorcist's body._

_Lightning lifted his apprentice's thighs, making the access by far easier for him. The mentor's arms dropped on both sides of the younger male whilst his elbow aided him to stand, hips still moving, conquering the son of Tatsuma more. Right before was him Ryuuji yearning for him. It was fine until brown eyes had met his sapphire ones. A gasp was made by the teacher, his arms resting on both sides of Ryuuji wrapped themselves around the young lad. "Ryuuji!" He then planted a rather torrid kiss on the Aria's lips, intentionally opening those by pressing his tongue in. Ryuuji did the same; both of them battled for dominance._

_"Ah, shit!" Muttered Lightning under his breath, breaking off their kiss so he could pound in him more. His pace sped up, eyes clamping tight, brows furrowing. A mixture of pant and chuckle had been released by him before uncovering his eyes once again to see his apprentice who openly accepted his attacks. "Here I go, Ryuuji. Don't waste it~"_

_Ryuuji's moans had grown louder, breathing was done faster. In between those movements, the latter nodded, albeit both of them were aware Ryuuji couldn't handle everything at once._

_Lightning could move some on his mouth so he could swallow them and actually don't waste anything, but he was too engrossed with his apprentice that he wanted everything inside._

_His student bit his lower lip upon receiving a gush of warm white-coloured liquid run inside him. Legs stretched, Lightning's grips on Ryuuji's thighs turned into one long squeeze. A groan escaped the professor's lips as he released the very last drop of the result of their contact. "Damn...," uttered Lightning whilst intentionally making his body fall at the side of his apprentice._

_Ryuuji had also released his, squirting everywhere for he wasn't able to control it at the moment he was being conquered--his mind was blank. He panted, doing his best to regain his normal breathing. "T-They...," began the young male. "...are probably already looking for us."_

_"Do you wanna return?" Lightning smirked. "In that state? I bet you can't even stand. Ahaha~"_

_"Shut up!" Ryuuji clutched his pants, planning to wear them once he's fully recovered. "Who do you think is the one to blame?!" He rolled away from his teacher once._

_Lightning then rolled once on the same direction, putting his right arm over the lad. "I love you, Ryuuji~"_

_"I don't," replied the teen quickly._

_"That's mean~" playfully responded the mentor._

"Eh? No one's here?" Kinzou spoke to himself upon sliding the door open leading to the young master's room. "Where the hell did Bon go?"

Juuzou was walking in the hallways while speaking to his wife, Mamushi. The blonde Shima found this a perfect timing to ask him about the Myoudha's bridge's whereabouts. "Juu-nii, have you seen Bon?"

"Ah, Bon? I've seen him and his master, Lightning, make their way to the Goma-do. I don't know what they are going to do there, maybe investigate about the Blue Night. Why?" Asked the older brother of his, eyes blinking in question.

_The Goma-do?_


	4. Absence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting his foot inside, Ryuuji paid his wristwatch a glance. 7:00PM. He quickly strolled around the house, comically shouting his purpose of hurry. "It's time for bath, Ligh...," words trailed off for there was no Lewin Light in sight. 'Right. He was taken back to Vatican'. He let out his fifth sigh for today, right hand scratching the back of his head.
> 
> 'It...suddenly got quiet in here.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A'ight. Have some fluff--
> 
> I have to inform you that this was written after Chapter 92 was released; I apologise that it isn't connected to Chapter 93. Thanks!

Lifting Lightning as if a piece of sack of rice, Oseola carried him back to Vatican as two more exorcists standing beside him followed their tracks, securing the possible ways if even Lightning would of attempt to escape. Ryuuji, by his master, had been entrusted about the outcome of their full report.

The male had never liked--apparently, he hated--people who like to pretend to be someone they really are not. And seeing his mentor form that usual smile on his lips as if nothing was wrong made him snap his tongue in annoyance, and grit his teeth whilst eyes were focused on the computer screen. Brows furrowed with the same feeling, Ryuuji's hand guided the mouse around his monitor, clicked a few articles, and began reading them.

Albeit his mind was currently shrouded in questions, he still proceeded on his work, thinking it was probably one of the ways he could save him off from the Vatican's hands; he had the least to no idea what happened or why he had been taken away, buy all he could do for him was lend him his trust.

"Suguro," the half-demon son of Satan was greatly confused of what was happening. First, Yukio's undescribable change of attitude; Second, Shiemi's sudden change of decision about being an exorcist; Third, Ryuuji wanting to speak to him in private. He also wanted to know the answers, but with all these things around him, Rin figured it wasn't the time. "The food's gonna get cold," stated the male.

There was no response.

Shiemi, Izumo and Konekomaru removed their gazes off from Ryuuji then, looked up at the prince of Gehenna with such upside down smiles on their lips.

Rin sighed, hoping at the very least that his release of air would somehow brighten up their atmosphere. "Let's leave him alone; seems like he's working on something important."

Before Ryuuji's friends decided to take the hay, he closed his laptop and carried it on his right arm like a normal backpack.  _I need to finish this._ Mouth unopening, apparently deciding to stay quiet about all the ruckus, the former cockscomb-haired male began walking out of the Old Boys' Dormitory, and to his mentor's place.  _It'd be better to work there since most of the papers and evidences I need are in his room. I just have to make sure no one's following me._

Rin sighed, one that was noticeable by his co-ExWires.  _How can we be so stupid? Expecting that Suguro will tell us something._ He laughed to himself, but it sounded more of a pity for him, his friends, especially Suguro. His usual happy-go-lucky facial expression had dropped; even he himself wasn't sure if he could take the day off peacefully after events being triggered one after another.

Safely, he arrived at Lightning's place. Even if he was known to be one messy and lazy guy, he becomes completely neat when it comes to his books.  _Things are the same when I left it. He never touched them?_ Ryuuji sat in the middle of those arranged pile of books, placed his device on top of his legs, then began flipping through papers. Thumb and pointer finger were under his jaw, obviously was thinking of something--most probably putting the puzzle together which Lightning left hanging.

_The silence is defeaning. I'm not used to this, at least in this place. I can't even scold anyone._

Overthinking had made the son of Tatsuma drift off to sleep, his head was on the sofa behind him, laptop placed on his side, arms crossed over his chest, legs were in an Indian sit position. Whilst he did so, series of unforgettable statements of his mentor had begun flashing themselves in his mind.

_"I hear people say that you are a genius. My memorisation skill is awful, so I really admire you. You are useful; I think you'll make a great exorcist."_

_"Stop jumping into conclusions~ That wasn't what I said."_

_"You've never heard of Mr. Todoroki? Aren't you Japanese?"_

_"I'm the type of person who can't symphatise with other human beings. I've also lacked emotions since birth. Though it's a lot better now."_

_"One of the reasons why I made you my apprentice was because I thought you were a respectable human being with good common sense. Having someone with an_ _**upright** _ _sense of judgement by my side is reassuring."_

_"Ahahaha! You must be really some kind of a masochist, huh?! Is that what you call 'samurai spirit'?"_

_"When my thoughts reach an impasse, I try to sleep. If you tackle this mess head-on, you'll go nuts!"_

Students had returned normally to their classes, but Yukio was surprisingly not around, his seat was empty as Ryuuji paid it a glance.

The bell rang, and True Cross Academy had become quite empty. Most of the students had gone home, but people with cram school stayed. However, as soon as another bell had rung as a sign to start the class, a new professor had entered their room.

"Light-sensei has been temporarily replaced as your mentor in this subject. While he is away, I would take care of the lessons. Nice meeting you all," greeted their professor, a pure smile was carved on his lips, but his students weren't in the perfect state to return such.

With the mention of Lightning's name, everyone glanced at Ryuuji who had his face flat on the desk, but his arms were crossed under his forehead as if serving as a pillow.

_He has been like that ever since Light-sensei was taken away..._ Shiemi uttered to herself.  _I miss...the way everything was--peaceful and laughing. But I guess, this really is an exorcist thing._

Ryuuji took a deep breath; even Shima wasn't present in any class. Asking Konekomaru now would be a stupid move, he suspected.

"Alright, class dismissed."

Students stood from their seats whilst trying to line their books up by gently patting it against their wooden desks, then placing it inside their bags.

However, with Rin sapphire orbs as if pinned on the rather bulky friend of his, he started drawing his path towards the lad. The son of Satan dropped a pat on his left shoulder, causing Ryuuji to slightly turn to him. "Wanna go and grab something to eat?"

A forced smile carved itself on his lips, but never did it help Rin and his other friends feel reassured. "Sorry, I got work to do," just with that, the latter returned to his master's residence.

Setting his foot inside, Ryuuji paid his wristwatch a glance.  _7:00PM._ He quickly strolled around the house, comically shouting his purpose of hurry. "It's time for bath, Ligh...," words trailed off for there was no Lewin Light in sight.  _Right. He was taken back to Vatican._ He let out his fifth sigh for today, right hand scratching the back of his head.

_It...suddenly got quiet in here._

Unconsciously, Ryuuji began searching around for his conversation with Lightning in his mobile phone, only to find old messages. They were having a battle of meaningful sayings, stickers, but most would be of work--their current location, news, updates. But somehow, the vibration of his phone had lessen--no more urgent calls and messages, spam demands of hamburgers and fries. There were only group messages from his friends and family, and calls, both unanswered.

_Ah, damn..._

Ryuuji continued researching, reading articles, putting together an incomplete and left-hanging puzzles, clearing confusions and finding answers. It was the second day he hadn't blinked an eyes just to finish the entrusted report of his mentor.

Third day came, and the lad was on his way to put his Magic Key inside a random door to teleport him inside the amenity of their cram school. However, in the hallways, he was bombarded by the astounding amount of students that had gathered in such a small place. Curious, brun-coloured hues landed onto the crowd. Height had never been an issue for the bearer of Karura, that's why he was able to see the reason why people seemed to had been busy fangirling and making a sound of amazement.

"S-Suguro-kun!" Called the gentle Green Man tamer. She was about to point behind him but it had been seemingly interrupted.

"Ryuuji."

It was the voice he had been wanting to hear. Yet, doubts were rummaging his mind; it could be a trick, it could be that it was only his mind playing games with him. Sighing, without expecting much, the young master of Myoudha turned around, seeing an indeed familiar stature which he hadn't seen for long was standing before him.

Days which definitely felt like months.

"Ligh...," words had been cut in the mid-air once again.

Knowing the officials of Vatican, Ryuuji could only pray everyday for Lightning's safety for he didn't know what awaits his master--every minute, he would overthink. To him today, he felt like a piece of stick that has been stuck in his chest for days had been pulled out.

Releasing his usual laugh with an unpredictable purpose, Lightning let out a short shrug. "Yeah," said the male, lips onto a smile now. "I managed to pull through~"

Relieved, Ryuuji walked closer to the older male, the girls surrounding him gave his apprentice a path he could walk on. The son of Tatsuma returned the gesture, small tints of blushes had seen slightly visible on his cheeks--the mentor he had fallen for returned safely. "Welcome back, idiot."

A chuckle escaped Lightning's lips. "Do I not get a hug?"

"You just came back, but you're being annoying again!" Retorted the young one in return.

Lightning's smile slightly curved down, seriousness on his face could be seen albeit half of it was covered by his dark hair. For once, he felt relieved that Ryuuji was unharmed. He walked towards his student and sent him an embrace, one that he hadn't given him for days. Leaning closer to his ear, he did, whilst chanting a few words that only he himself could hear. "I missed you, Ryuuji."

That line alone had the small amount of red tints on his face occupied the whole of it, slightly heating up for such statement was completely unexpected. Though flusterred, Ryuuji said nothing but return his gentle embrace. It took him a few seconds before getting himself to be able to speak to him again. "You stink."

"Wanna take a bath together?"

Ryuuji broke off from the embrace and with such a confused facial expression, he looked up at him.  _He better not be talking about...!_

Without further ado, Lightning took his apprentice away. From a distance people would hear the young genius retaliate by saying, "I still have to attend crams! You told me not to skip them!" And the Arch Knight replying him with, "Don't worry, I'm skipping them too! Bath is more important~"

The students, including Lightning's, were left in the hallways of their cram school, dumbfounded.


	5. Modorenakatta

_How long has it been?_

Cram school was once again closed due to the lack of professors to teach their students about exorcism. However, this was a great chance to review for the upcoming certification examination. Yet, Ryuuji used such a bright sunny day for another purpose.

Door slowly creaking open, before him revealed a house covered in darkness, the vivid rays of the sun slipping inside aided the ExWire to see even the little whitish images resting there. Ryuuji moved his hand towards the wall behind him to reach for the switch of the light, and ticked it open using his pointer finger by moving it upwards.

There were piles of papers, organised books, seemingly unusable toy guns, large parcels of things, boxes containing items, game cards, huge demonic table of elements, images, cut out maps, and notes attached on the wall, and other items related to his mentor's study and researches about demons. Even so the amount of items on the floor and on various places, Ryuuji felt empty.

The corner which handled Lightning's mountain of clothes was surprisingly empty. There was nothing for Ryuuji to wash since Lightning's gone, no reason he should cook for, shout at, nag at about the basic of basic things, remind him about the most important stuff, fix as his mentor heads out, no reason to buy a bag of True Cross Burgers, two bottle of milkshakes and two packs of large fries, tell to take a bath because he already stinks, or make a lesson plan for cram school. No one.

Two single couches facing the sofa caught his attention. He sat on the couch on the right, brun-coloured orbs landing on the usual place where Lightning would be sleeping. Images of reminiscing their spent time together began making it slightly visible in reality. Lightning was sleeping on the aforementioned sofa, both of them running around because of the Arc Knight's unreliable memory when it comes to remembering his schedule that had been arranged and organised for his convenience, Ryuuji pulling off his covers and forcing him to take a bath, and clean himself.

_So much for being a torturer, huh, Lightning?_

He muttered to himself, pertaining to how he felt incomplete because of his absence. The annoying but of with an unpredictable purpose laugh of his began ringing in his ears; somehow, Ryuuji thought that it was a wrong decision to come back here and feel the presence of his mentor once again. Moments, as he remembered, scattered as if a built sand castle had been thrown down by a strong wind.

No matter how hard he would of control himself not to overthink, he still couldn't help it. Every night, upon thinking about things too much, Ryuuji would get images of Lightning in danger, and that he was unable to save him even if he already was within his reach. No matter how strong and loud his calls, his mentions of his name, nothing was happening--Lightning couldn't hear him, like a complete nightmare.

Everything in an instant had vanished into thin air, a big part of his life has been taken away--they changed.

_I'm still your apprentice, that's unchanged. So you better come back._

After such, Ryuuji stood from sitting at the single couch, head straight outside to gather some fresh air and free himself from stress. He took another moment to look at the lit up room, sighed, and used his pointer finger once again to tick down the light's switch off.

Door slowly creaked close, lock clicked as well.


	6. Vatican Adventures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not smut, but have a RaiSugu. :^]

Voices and words of Mephisto from their static radio scattered all around the place, but Ryuuji's ears only had defeaned down to his thoughts.

_I've finished the report just like what he told me to. But how the hell can I get it to Vatican...?_

For some reason, his instincts told him to make a hard copy of his report, possibly connected to what lies ahead of him.

After Shiemi had informed them of the recent issues regarding Yukio's actions, Rin and Ryuuji had split their ways up. Everyone was important to him, just as how Lightning is.

"Take care of your mentor, Suguro," said the half-demon with pure determination in his eyes. "Me and Shiemi will go meet Yukio, he hasn't gotten away that far, surely," he clenched his fists. "I don't know what's happening, but I'm sure he needs me right now."

He only nodded as an agreement.

A second after, both Shiemi and Rin sprinted away; fortunately, it came to the latter's mind that she had the Exorcist Supply Shop Key with her, which allowed her and Rin to transport as quickly as they could to the place where Yukio still was.

 _The quickest is either I ask around for the personnel of Vatican's email address so it could go through, but I can't just give a top-secret report to anyone. I only have one option left,_ muttered the ExWire to himself. "Konekomaru," he called which was immediately responded with a glance. "I'm leaving the house to your care."

"Are you going to...?"

"I'm going to find a way, somehow, somewhere," answered Ryuuji with determination in his expression.

Upon using his Magic Key in the abandoned building's functioning door, it lead him inside their cram school that was currently closed due to the lack of professors--either they were being sent out to exorcise low class demons escaping the growing Gehenna Gates in places, or others were being trained to be a proper exorcist.

_Someone here should--_

"I'm being called for a meeting in Vatican," an upper-class exorcist muttered to his friend.

_Vatican?! Maybe, I can...!_

"For a meeting?" Asked the other.

"Yeah, I'm leaving my papers on my table. Be sure to keep them safe. They hold the important data of the Order."

"Yeah, I'll handle it."

The upper-class exorcist grabbed his key from his pocket and inserted it on the keyhole. He bid farewell by showing him the correct gesture until a shadow went ahead of the door.

"Someone went in?!"

Alerted, the exorcist turned in front of him and began shouting to get the person's attention. "Kid! Come back! What you're doing is prohibited by the law of the Order!"

_This is wrong, but to hell with it!_

The end of the seemingly enclosed tunnel eventually lead him to the Vatican. It felt a long path; the pressure he shouldered was heavier than the usual.

_Where did we--_

"Kid, stop! A step further and this will be taken into questioning!" Shouted the exorcist from the other end of the magical tunnel.

Ryuuji let out a mixture of scoff and chuckle.  _Damn right._

The upright student continued moving forward, intentionally leaving the door open because of his haste. He followed the upper level bridge-looking floor ahead where they had first stepped on upon arriving in the aforementioned place and meeting the paladin, Arthur Auguste Angel.

He passed by a huge figure of a strong knight, as well as door with scriptured Latin words. Below where he was were group of people--exorcists--walking and discussing important matters. They came off complete simultaneous buzzes to Ryuuji since the strong breeze was shortening the range of his hearing.

To his left were three huge doors engraved with signs that had most probably been holding meanings behind them. The one in the middle was the sanctuary where Azazel's enshrined. But he passed by it and continued moving forward. Ryuuji was unsure where he's supposed to go, but he had to keep moving somehow.

"Suguro Ryuuji, stop at all costs!" Called the upper-class exorcist again as it had gotten other people's attention. They hadn't had the chance to stop the young lad because he moved undeniably fast, only they did was pay him a glance, expressions widened in surprise.

_Ah, shit._

The lad did his best to sprint faster than his usual, but he was at his limit. He took a turn to the left which flabbergastingly lead him to a dark alley. Brun-coloured hues still adjusting at the darkness until a set of stairs had been visible in his range.  _Stairs...? Where is it gonna lead me?_

Wherever it was so, he never hesitated to put his life in line. As quick as he could, he followed the path downwards that felt never-ending until voices echoed.

"I'd love to answer those questions, but maybe, Sir Dragulesc could explain things better~"

 _Lightning!_ His ears had chosen few important words he'd listen to guide him closer to his mentor. Not long, the voices he could hear had grown louder and louder, indicating he was almost there.

_I'm close. I'm close! If I continue moving forward, it sure will lead me to--_

"I'm sure he hadn't gone that far!" A male voice reached the lad's ears which made him press onwards more.

_I can't let them catch me now...!_

"Ah, damn," stated another exorcist. "I'm already late in my meeting! But if I make him slip now, I'll take on a heavier punishment! Find him at all costs!" A mumble followed, but it was heard because of how closed the space was. "What has gotten into that kid's mind? He's intelligent, but he disobeyed the rules!"

"He's intelligent. He knows what he's supposed to do. Even if it's wrong in front of people's eyes, if that's the correct decision, he'd go with that path. He's an upright person, you know, not just your typical smartass student," another defended him which left his co-exorcist in silence.

In front of him was a huge door, the path behind him was a path of unstoppable flow of water, on the sides of it were two parallel stairs. From this view, it looked like it was as well never-ending.

"There he is!" Another searcher pointed at the student.

Quickly, Ryuuji used his remaining force to open the huge barricade standing before him. As his hunters approached him, and almost within their reach, the door locked close.

The large sound of clicking caught the current paladin's attention, a gasp escaping his lips. "Suguro-kun?!"

His attempt to regain his breath was strong, but his hues managed to glance at Angel, then shifted towards his mentor that had his facial expression in surprise, but his lips immediately formed his usual smile.

Ryuuji gave everyone who could see him a bow of respect before speaking. "I deeply apologise for intruding but...," he raised the papers and made it evident to his master's visions. "...I have a report to deliver here." It was supposedly through the cloud, but with the limited access, his delivery came off literally.

"Claim them," ordered Shemihaza to a guard standing at the corner of the room. Soon, it was sent to their hands.

Gasps echoed in the place.

Armumahel turned to Azazel.

"Remove Lightning's restrictions," ordered one of the Sol. "Call over Doctor Drac Dragulesc immediately."

\---

Both walked together in silence, not until a little moment that Lightning began speaking. "Thank you, Ryuuji," stated the Arc Knight.

He stopped his tracks and madly turned to his teacher. "I get it. I damn get it. You sent me away so you could do them, you brute. But what the hell happened to the  _we're finishing this together_ thing? If I have to remind you several times that you have a partner, that you have someone you can rely on, I will. Stop working on your own; we promised. You wanted an upright person beside you, but why the hell did you--"

"I don't want to involve you in my mess. I know they're going to take me away after what I did. And I was ready for it," laughed Lightning. "Even the execution, if it will ever lead to that."

"I've always controlled myself not to cross you or your plans fearing that I'll just be a burden, but I don't care about it anymore," Ryuuji grabbed the older man's collar. "I don't care about it anymore, even being pulled in some conclave to be questioned, or being executed. I said it before, I can't let you go alone. And I hella won't!" The latter then pushed the other using his opened palm from grabbing the collar line of Lightning's shirt. Shortly, he placed it inside his pockets, walking ahead of his mentor.

Lightning then quickly approached him and hugged him from behind, tone was low and serious. "I'm sorry," he said, pertaining to the way how he hadn't stayed together with him. "Although I can't promise I won't be forgetting you unintentionally at times, would you be okay with that?"

The student laughed slightly. He answered, but not directly for the older man's question. "I won't be promising I wouldn't nag about it."

Simultaneous laughing in the hallway rang around, ones that sounded completely joyous.


	7. 5PM Thoughts

The ExWire shifted his body to the right, clutching the closest cotton-made pillow he could reach. It was fluffy enough to accompany Lightning’s apprentice from the cold; albeit he had a short blanket with him, it was still a great help to fight the unpredictable weather.

Ryuuji was about to drift off to sleep once again until a familiar voice rang in his mind.

“Ryuuji.”

Brun-coloured digits had immediately uncovered itself, jolting awake, body quickly sitting up on the sofa. His head, as if in haste, turned around the place as his hues matched its movement, checking every possible corner of the small room he was in. Unfortunately, the person he was expecting to see wasn’t to be seen, most possibly not even at the depths of the building.

A sigh was let out by the teen, shoulders which were once in excitement had drooped.  _Why the hell am I hearing things…,_  muttered the male annoyingly to himself before facing the sofa again, consciously plopping himself down as if angered by his own actions. With a stifled tone, he uttered, “What the hell did he do?!” as he remembered what had happened a day ago.


	8. Pass

The clock was ticking.

It was the third time Ryuuji glanced at the wall clock to check the time. "It's ten minutes before your meeting, Lightning. Do you have everything you need?"

"Yeah," effortlessly replied Lightning, not even bothering to check himself, voice sounded with such pure confidence.

Obviously not buying his response, Ryuuji began uttering items that he would probably need in the meeting the paladin had set-up with the Grigori and the head of the Japan Branch today. "Cards?"

"Yeah, I got it here~" responded him.

The teen downcast his head on the floor as if to let the time continue running, but never did he stop speaking. "Your pass?"

There was silence.

Noticing that he didn't get a response, and his ears hearing a rustling sound getting louder and louder while other parts of his surroundings were deafening, Lightning's voice slowly vanishing, aforementioned sounds taking over. Head turning to the direction where his mentor was standing, Ryuuji asked again. "Your pass? Do you have it?"

"I... I'm pretty sure I already placed it in my pocket," he turned to his apprentice. "Shit, where did I put it? I'm really certain I had it with me!"

Ryuuji's facial expression immediately turned into panic. "Really?!" Quickly, he stood from the sofa and began searching for his master's dark-coloured bagpack, in hopes that his pass was in there. "Did you put it in here?"

Lightning's unseen gazes turned to his apprentice, as if mentally saying "No". He was sure it was with him the whole time, thus there would be no way it'd be hiding inside his bag. "...Shit," uttered him once more.

_He cannot lose that! Even if he's known as the master of the Four Great, rules are rules; he needs that pass_   _to get in!_

Determined, Ryuuji turned to his mentor. "I'm going to backtrack every place you and I went to. Try to check the house once more, we might have just missed a corner or something," without waiting for Lightning's response, the latter stormed out.

Never he would make a mistake of the paths they took, considering how amazing his memory is. Thus, Ryuuji followed it and began searching around.  _He might have dropped or placed it somewhere. We did go to the True Cross Burger shop; I'_ _ll_ _go check that too._  Ryuuji continued moving forward, as it lead him to the mentioned shop.

"Excuse me, have you seen an I.D. Card here? Me and my master might have left it earlier when we came," muttered Ryuuji with utmost politeness.

She leaned closer towards Ryuuji to hear the next answers for her questions of reconfirmation about what exactly he's looking for. "What kind of I.D., sir?"

"Uh...," he glanced upwards slightly to rethink what it looked like, together with the information written on it. "An Arc Knight's special pass, his name is Lewin Light, a member of the True Cross Order, and one of the teachers in True Cross Academy," he paused. "Did you happen to see something like that, ma'am?"

The vendor shook her head. "No, we haven't seen anything of some sort. We put things forgotten by our customers in this rack," she pointed at the said item beside her. "So, if it's not in there, we found nothing or haven't seen one," the conversation then was closed by an exchange of bows of respect.

Ryuuji kept moving, strolling in the streets; he never had missed a corner to check though it was undoubtedly crowded.  _None..._

Lifting his head, outskirts of the town greeted him. Compared to the ones he was in before, the latter surely found the place rather relaxing--there was barely anyone around, few houses, and mostly trees. It looked like the other town was far from where he was standing. However, it wasn't the perfect time for such feelings; he had a duty to fulfill.

Returning to his master's place, he marched as quick as he could, but at the same time, he made sure he had once again checked every corner.  _Still none._ _Where the hell did he put it?_ Lastly had he asked himself before tilting the doorknob open leading to Lightning's home.

A sigh of disappointment had been freed by the young teen upon finding out nothing; he was aware it wasn't his fault, but had himself as if carry all the blames on his shoulders. "I'm back," he said, heavy breathing and panting were evident due to the amount of running he did earlier. "Did you find--"

A pair of strong arms swaddled themselves around Ryuuji's well-built body, Lightning intentionally putting his head on the crook of the lad's neck. "I'm sorry, Ryuuji."

The warm embrace which had been thrown at him surprised him greatly; Lightning's messy blueish-green hair had been felt clearly on his neck as immediately. "W...What's wrong, Lightning?" Asked him as he was unable to decipher what had just happened, little slashes of red were visible under his left eye. Uncertainty engulfed him for he didn't know if he should return the hug or just let Lightning be. There was an attempt to return it, but he rested both his arms on his sides, anyways.

"I'm really, really sorry," uttered the master of lightning again before breaking the embrace and looking up at his apprentice. A card with an imprinted data such as his name was presented before him. Atop the said paper was the name of the organisation--True Cross Order--along with another sign at the end that said  **entry pass**.

For a short moment, he felt glad that it was found before the allotted time for their meeting. However, facial expression immediately distorted into confusion. "Where did you find it?"

Lightning ran his right hand to perform a scratch at the back of his head, together with it cocking to the side in the silliest manner possible. "Inside my wallet."

The response immediately made Ryuuji's expression turn into comical, eyes in the shade of white, teeth seemingly gritting in annoyance. "...I'm not really sure if that's because of your unreliable memory, or you didn't check thoroughly."

He laughed, one that sounded fake and forced. "I apologised already~"

Ryuuji glanced at his wristwatch to check the time, gazes returning at his mentor soon. "It's three minutes before your actual meeting," explained him.

"Three minutes?!" Lightning began stumbling around his things whilst panic had gotten into him. He grabbed his key from his pocket, inserted it in the keyhole and tilted the knob open. "I'll be going, mama~ Thank you!" Lightning, as if in a flash, quickly planted a kiss on Ryuuji's cheeks before smiling once more, and leaving.

He was left speechless for a few seconds before the door before him closed; a vibration from his cellphone hidden in his pocket allowed him to return to reality.

From: Lewin

Don't miss me too much~

Along it was a peace sign.

In a mixture of anger and embarrassment, Ryuuji immediately replied.

From: Ryuuji

Shut the hell up; you're annoying!

After such, he closed his cellphone, shoved it back inside his pocket, and proceeded to clean the mess his master left. Again.

Lightning's phone vibrated against the long, wooden table where he placed it freely as the meeting commenced. Lent ears towards Angel explaining things had been removed for quite a number of seconds as he grabbed his gadget to look at the message his apprentice sent.

_Shut the hell up; you're annoying!_

The Arc Knight chuckled.

"Lightning?" Called the current paladin, eyes blinking in question.

Lightning dropped his phone back on the table whilst assuring Angel that he was listening, and that he could continue on. He placed his jaw over his closed fist, as his elbow rested on the aforementioned furniture. A chuckle escaped his lips once again, picturing how cute and vulnerable his student looked like.

_Ah,_   _I can't wait to go home~_


	9. Borrowed Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based on a role-play two of my friends did (these amounts of angst lately, though--).  
> Lewin Light: https://www.facebook.com/LightningTheTorturer  
> Ryuuji Suguro: https://www.facebook.com/RyuujiBocchan  
> Link to their simple role-play: https://www.facebook.com/RyuujiBocchan/posts/2016207718405751  
> I have gotten permission from them to turn it into a one-shot; as well as making little revisions. Thank you for reading!

The news about the True Cross Academy's headmaster--as well known as Japan branch's director, spread like wildfire. There were little evidence that it was Okumura Yukio who shot the aforementioned person, but they had taken him away anyhow.

Things around Ryuuji were indubitably beginning to entwine with each other; they're seemingly going into a full twister that he couldn't figure out which one he should take care of first.

_Lightning,_ _do you know anything?_

Plopped well-built body on his fluffy, cotton-made futon, he extended his arm upwards to take a peek on his phone screen which he just had grabbed from the floor, resting on the side not aloof from him.

Normally would he study for the previous lessons he had, but it felt like he had no room for that at this anomalous situation. Having a hard time to compartmentalise, thumb was delivered against the screen to stroll around as if to and in nothingness.

Instantaneously, a number not registered in his list appeared on it.

"...?"

_I'm pretty sure I haven't added or given someone my contact  number, especially ones I barely or not know at all._

Though superficially getting a hint that it might be someone he had given his number to who definitely would need aid but something unfortunate had happened to their gadget, Ryuuji tapped the green button indicating that he answered the call.

"Yes, hello?"

There was a second silence.

"Yaa, Ryuuji~~" A wonted voice of someone familiar had reached his ears, however it was one he hadn't heard for some time now.

"M-Master?!"

"I've been thinking...," began his mentor, stopping in deliberation.

Ryuuji held his gadget close whilst his grips on it tightening, tensed atmosphere springing up.

"I'm planning to give you a short pre-cert once  _this_ is through. What do you say?"

It wasn't in his eyes' range, but certainly he could tell Lightning was smiling in amusement on the other line.  _Jailed, but thinking of giving me a pre-certification test? Why would..._

The Arc Knight shrugged. "Well,  _if_ I managed to get out of here before the test date," added him.

A nod was indisputably made; grips loosening, brun-tinted hues shifting to the side where his electrical contrivance was resting. "Sure," answered him with utmost politeness. "But, what about your issue in Vatican?"

Scoff had been created as a part of the man's response, a witty remark followed. "That's actually up to you," said him. "You're done with the report, right?"

"I'm...," skeptically, he started. "...thinking of a way to get it to Vatican," eyes shifting downcast, the exwire proceeded. "But, with the amount of things happening lately, I couldn't seem to form an idea."

Aware of how much of an ingenuous, truthful person his apprentice was, it only allowed Lightning to curve his habitual smile into a frown. A touch of guilt engulfed him, but never had he told the young one, if not shown. Instead, the Texan began another. "Did you talk to them?" Asked the man, pertaining to the Okumura brothers.

An identifiable sound of unhappiness clutched Ryuuji's voice, but had let himself create his unequivocal answer. "I'm sorry," started the latter for somehow defying his mentor's warning. "I've told Okumura about sensei pointing his gun at me. I'm not sure what happened after that, but Moriyama came and told us that he shot himself."

"Oh~," replied the imprisoned Arc Knight, along it was a little chuckle, and tone was definitely in amusement. "I figured so. Who knows, he might help him more than we wanted."

Silence intruded once again. It appeared to be as if they were engrossed in deep oblivion before Lightning's student broke it off. "Is this okay?" Out-of-the-blue, Ryuuji uttered again. "Communicating with people from the outside?"

"Don't worry, Osceola lent me his," quickly stated his master. "He's listening to us right now," Lightning didn't waste another second to speak again--time is of the essence, after all. "Take a rest. It's already late there. You still have classes by later, right?"

"Yeah, thanks," said Ryuuji, appreciating the little concern his mentor never, if not seldomly, unveil. A hidden surge of voicing out something else was vivid, but it only formed a question of three words. "What about you?"

Laughing in pure entertainment, Lightning generated words for the lad. "Nah, don't worry about me," started him. "I won't die that easy~"

Vexed expression was carved on the student's countenance in a jiff, though had he only opted not to throw him a comical counter. "...You can't be so sure," wanting to believe, to trust Lightning's remarks; but, picturing the man in the hands of a group of powerful people was something he himself couldn't be rest assured of. With that, Ryuuji constructed another set of words. "Take care of yourself."

It was the only thing he had in mind. With his current battling abilities, and without someone protecting him as he would chant, he undoubtedly was in no match. Certainly, there were lots of things he still needed to work on.

"Yeah," replied Lightning. There was a pause, but he carried on. "I love you."

"?!" Dazed. Ryuuji's mind had gone blank for a second, if not profoundly dumbfounded. There was a short absence of loud bustles, his surroundings only deafening to the sound of his heart beat raising, his mentor's words repeating itself in his mind like a broken record player.

It took him a few moments of composing himself before responding--for words such as that, with emotions involved, even unexpectedly coming from Lightning himself, was in no doubt surprising. "I...," hesitant to vocalise, was extremely reticent of continuing because of embarrassment, he should tell Lightning the truth before it'd be too late. "I love you, too."

A sigh of relief came evident from the other line, "Ah, time's up, I guess," he glanced up at his close friend, Osceola Redarm, before returning his attention to his pupil. "See you when I see you, Ryuuji~"

"Lightning, wait...!" Abruptly said the lad, sitting up on his futon as quick as his movement would permit.

A beep of the calling being dropped answered him.

On the screen, it imprinted:  **Call ended.**

After seeing it so, Ryuuji stared at it for a few more seconds to convince himself that it already had ended. Albeit unwillingly, he pressed the red button to close their conversation, somehow had slid his phone under his pillow, shifted his body upside down to face his soft futon, and buried his head in it.

There was an important thing he had to tell him, but he missed the chance.

_Damn it..._


	10. Love is Beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This contains a little spoiler from the movie "Bad Genius". If you don't mind, carry on.
> 
> "Love is beautiful" is a reference from the top-grossing film in Thailand named, "Bad Genius". If you haven't watched it yet, you should! It's a great movie!
> 
> Trailer of Bad Genius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLdhN4oMxCQ
> 
> Request came from these people (all from Facebook):  
> Osceola Redarm: https://www.facebook.com/osceola.redarm.355  
> Yukio Okumura: https://www.facebook.com/xinglu.hausen?fref=ufi  
> Arthur Auguste Angel: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100020078828050&fref=ufi
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Click!

It was the sound of his laptop, but was immediately covered up with a long sigh.

_So this is why he kept me away..._

Crooking brows like its usual, Ryuuji muttered a few words inaudible for his friend, Rin, to hear. "Master is such a sly devil...," he told himself before getting another thought.  _I must deliver this at once! But, how can I get it to Vatican?_

Konekomaru, who had just finished eating, turned to his childhood friend, brows in an evident narrow of worry. Seeing the perplexed facial expression of their young master gave him the urge to approach him, and send him his aid whenever available. "What's wrong, Bon?"

Gazes remained immovable from his gadget, a deep breathing had been executed. "Konekomaru," he turned to the latter this time. "I need to go to Vatican."

"To Vatican? At this crucial time, Bon?" Confirmed the cat lover. Saving numerous people from the attacks of different kinds of demons was as important as sending a salient report to the aforementioned place, but Konekomaru seemed to be having a hard time finding a space for adding another problem.

They were shouldering enough.

_If I get to send these papers somehow, we could probably get explanations of what's happening around us. Things might be connected from one to another. All of this perhaps are a puzzle we have to fit together to find an answer._

Ryuuji shifted his body towards the slim monk to face him completely. "I really need to go to Vatican," it was made repetitively, but Konekomaru had sensed the greater importance of the matter.

"O-Okay," he replied in haste. "I'll help you get to the Vatican! We'll find a way, Bon!" Uttered Konekomaru without doubt, face turned into a determined one. "Okumura-kun!" He called the son of Satan. "Me and Bon will go out for a bit, we wouldn't be long," then, he turned to his childhood friend. "Let's go, Bon! Time's running!"

The exwires nodded in unison, storming out from the room after. To their surprise, a purple-haired female tied in a pigtail appeared before them.

"You two, where are you going?"

"Vatican, Kamiki-san!"

Since the decision was made abruptly, Izumo didn't know what to do; she would stop them, but she would send them her aid as well, seeing how important Ryuuji's problem was.  _Screw this!_ The lass shoved her cellular phone back inside her pocket, and chased after the two. "Where are you two going, exactly?"

"Maybe, find someone who has the key to the Vatican, sneak in, and meet up with Light-sensei," explained the slim teen, pants were evident.

Pair of crimson-coloured optics glanced at the other man. Knowingly that he wasn't bothered he'd be committing a crime, Izumo clicked her tongue in annoyance, and proceeded. "I've seen a group of first-class exorcists making their way to the Vatican. They're not far, I'm sure!"

"Lead the way, Kamiki-san!" Responded the little guy with red glasses. "But why are they gathered together?"

The child of Tamamo took the rail and let the two follow them, hair freely dancing at the wind bumping against her, snow still was falling. "I've heard them say something about a Dullahan appearing in Rome, but that's about it."

_A Dullahan? Now?_ Uttered Ryuuji to himself.

Silence engulfed them for a few seconds until Izumo spoke again. "Here they are!" The lass lead them at the edge of the nearest wall to get a peek of what currently was happening. However, conversations were made one after another, making it hard for them compartmentalise and comprehend what they were chatting about.

Whilst in it, one of the men inserted their key, and opened the door before turning to his co-exorcists to make his short speech. "Alright, men. Let's go. We can't wait the Vatican from waiting!"

A shadow passed by.

"Who was that?!" One of them asked.

Effortlessly, the closest exorcist standing at the door grabbed the collar line of Ryuuji's shirt and with utmost strength, he stopped him from proceeding. The latter didn't retaliate, however.

_Aah, what's that gorilla doing?! Has he lost himself?!_ Annoyed, the female revealed herself and stood before the old men.

"You, exwires. Are you with Suguro-kun?"

Konekomaru and Izumo weren't surprised that they had heard of their friend, at least his countenance and name. It would most probably because he excels at his studies, or because he had recently became Lightning's apprentice--or both. The two stood there, frozen in place, until one of the guys alerted them with a loud voice.

"I'm disappointed in you, Suguro-kun," then, he turned at the two. "What are you guys, from class 1, doing with him? He's a great disappointment already, and you dare add more?!"

Their shoulders shook in surprise.  _Damn it...!_ "T-They... He, um...," unable to compose a good excuse, Konekomaru took over.

"U-Um, Bon-- I mean, Suguro-kun and Light-sensei are in a secret relationship! If he doesn't make it to the Vatican now, they m-might never see each other again!" Said him, voice echoing in the cram school hallways.

"What?" The exorcists exchanged glances, eventually had let go off the young male's shirt.

Izumo tried to show them her best convincing smile, and added, "Love is beautiful, sir."

One of them even resorted to crying, particularly because he was touched. "Go there, lad, and show him your love!"

Another added, "I'm not sure when the Arc Knight had been interested in this kind of relationship, but screw that! Go ahead, Suguro-kun! I'm pretty sure he's waiting for you on the other side!"

Ryuuji's face formed into a tired comical expression--unexpecting that of all people, Konekomaru thought of such a reason--before changing it back to a normal one, head nodding in agreement before going straight inside the room and giving his friends a look of appreciation for what they did.

 

* * *

 

"Yeah, there currently are demons appearing in--"

Donned in their usual outfit, drawing paths further the aforementioned school had been paused, comprehensible buzzes of people in glaze were heard.

Kawayama appeared from behind the Arc Knight, tapped his right shoulder once, and gave him a smile. "Congratulations, sir, for your new relationship! I hope everything turns out exciting for the two of you," glance shifted towards his student. "Okay, Suguro-kun?"

The male's shoulders stiffened in nervousness, breathing as if had stopped, eyes widened in surprise.  _Even Kawayama-sensei heard of..._ Brown-tinted hues glanced around, only to find out people were actually eyeing them.  _It spread that quick?!_ "No, it's not, um...," unfortunately, Ryuuji couldn't find the correct words to explain something made in haste; Lightning looking at him with his head cocked to the side in confusion wasn't helping.

"Ah, anyway! I'll leave both of you, I still have a meeting to attend to," the man raised his right hand to bid them a temporary farewell.

"Ah, I see," muttered Lightning before turning to his apprentice. "It seems you told them something interesting~ What was it?"

"Well...," started him before gulping. "I was... I was looking for a way to get into Vatican without the need to commute because it would take a lot of time, and I might not get to deliver the report on time, so we--" realising that he shouldn't drag his friends in his own mess, Ryuuji took all the blame. "I mean, I had no choice but to tell them something that would make them permit me to go through..."

"What was it?" Cheaply repeated the Arc Knight.

"Y-You and I...," started him, arms dropping on his sides, though he still had the important documents in his hands. "...are in a secret relationship. And if I hadn't gotten in there on time, we might not see each other again. S-So, they..."

Intentionally, Lightning interrupted the male. "Do you really fear not seeing me again, Ryuuji?"

"Of course! I mean...," giggles around them began echoing. "I-I mean, yeah, well... There are lots of things I want to learn from you, and I haven't known...you enough...yet...," few parts of his words came inaudible, but Lightning managed to get the gist of it.

"Ah, well! Let's make it happen!"

The lad's expression brightened. "The teachings?"

A smile engraved itself on the man's lips. "No. The relationship~"

Ryuuji's eyes grew open, unexpecting something such as that come out from his mentor's mouth. "H-Hah?!"

Before he could retaliate more, Lightning spoke again. "Now, we're supposed to make that relationship official, right?"

_Make the relationship official?_ "What do you..."

"You'll know~" said him, and lead his apprentice to an abandoned room in the cram school whilst completely ignoring the buzzes around them.

 


	11. First Time (Explicit)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! A detailed smut; sorry, I needed to let it out~

_Why the hell did I do this...?_

__

_Even telling him about my ambition, of what actually happened to my family._

__

_Why am I..._

__

"I guess this should do," said him whilst putting the misplaced last box at the corner of Lightning's home. "I need to tend to his clothes next...," the teen got a basket, and placed his newly-appointed mentor's filthy items on it to prepare cleaning them.

"Ryuuji~" called his teacher from the second floor which he immediately tended to, dropping his basket beforehand.

"Yeah?"

Shifting his unseen gazes towards his apprentice, Lightning smiled at the other. "I heard from your classmates that you've fallen for me," the curve in his lips had grown. "That's...something I least expected from you~"

Tints of blushes came evident under his left eye, the small shudder he did was noticeable as well. "It wasn't **that** kind of falling for you, Lightning," explained him. "It's more...of..."

"Hm?"

"...I can't explain it well in words."

Seeing how he was unable to clear what he actually meant only made Lightning's usual smile turn into a smirk. "According to this...," the Arc Knight lifted his phone close enough to see the texts on his screen better, but there wasn't really an article of some sort displayed on it. "When you're in love, you couldn't explain the reason why, you just wanted to be with that person. Therefore, what you meant by _fallen for him_ was actually love~"

"D-Don't jump into random conclusions! I'm pretty sure it's not--!"

In a jiff, Ryuuji found himself lying on top of his master's bed. "What is it, then?" Asked the older man, arms landed on the teen's sides to pin him, both legs forcefully closed his apprentice's.

_What is..._

There was an audible, short chuckle from Lightning which sounded more likely a scoff for hearing no response from Ryuuji. Undoubtedly, he moved his face closer to the other's, smile only growing upon seeing the latter not fighting back. Without further ado, he planted his lips against Ryuuji's.

It took exactly three seconds before Lightning himself had broken the kiss. "You're amazing, Ryuuji~" said him. "You didn't fight back even if I was already attempting to kiss you. That would only mean you really are into me, right?" Followed his statement was his usual laugh.

There was only but silence.

Amused, the Arc Knight pressed another kiss towards the exwire. Surprisingly, it was being returned. Lightning intentionally poked Ryuuji's lips using his tongue, mentally asking him for an entrance which he openly obeyed.

At first, Ryuuji didn't know what to do; the things he had seen on a certain pinkette's mature-rated books were different from what he was currently experiencing. But had he got the hang of it. He followed Lightning's movements whilst the other adjusted and took the opposite path. This time, it looked like both were battling for dominance.

_Why am I..._

With his now unlocked hands, the student had unintentionally wrapped his arms around his mentor's body whilst moving from unpredicted directions, tenderly rubbing the other's back.

It didn't take him long to realise that he had been expecting, wanting more; the heat was undeniably creeping up on him--his hips was moving on its own, as if looking for more foreplays, more touching. Fortunately, Lightning noticed it.

Right arm being used to maintain his balance, his left had begun making its way downwards to where Ryuuji's most prized treasure was kept.

_Damn it, this is so wrong! Why the hell do I keep giving myself to him?! Why do..._

__

_"Therefore, what you meant by 'fallen for him' was actually love."_

__

_Was it, really...?_

__

"Ah, sh--!" Uttered the lad in surprise, unintentionally breaking their torrid kissing, wrapped arms around his mentor had slightly tightened.

"I barely started, Ryuuji," stated Lightning, entertainment was engraved on his face.

Ryuuji wanted to question, to confirm, to understand, to know if this was just because it's a part of Lightning's culture, but he was afraid to find out that it only was for the mean time, a moment to escape boredom, an excuse away from reality.

The latter, indubitably, was expecting _something else._

Lightning pushed himself away from the young man, but still was stroking him, harder this time. Right hand then crept to his legs and playfully but tenderly ran his fingers against it. Ryuuji twitching from his every touch was quite an entertainment, but the Arc Knight never was satisfied.

All this foreplay was testing his patience--his eagerness to attack the stripling--but witnessing how vulnerable a punk-looking man with a seemingly permanently carved mad expression on his face made everything hard for Lightning to contain, including his hard-on.

He wanted to prepare Ryuuji well, not liking the idea of breaking him apart, but he wasn't able to hold the act for long; his apprentice's voice, the repetitive and untentionally but seductive way of calling Lightning's name over and over, the panting, and how he would hide himself from the embarrassment he was feeling made the knight quite impatient.

Ready as he would ever be, Lightning grabbed a little bottle of Pjur from his pocket, poured a good amount in his hand, then rubbed at the entrance of the other. Ryuuji twitched again, and it made Lightning hurry--he wanted to feel Ryuuji as fast as time would permit.

A sound of small numbers of metal clanging echoed in Ryuuji's ears, brown eyes remained clamped, not wanting to see what mess had he let himself enter. Next was unzipping, clothes dropping on the floor followed.

_Is he really going to...?! No..._ The student contradicted his own question. _Why am I letting him do all this...?_ Aware that he could stop his mentor somehow with the aid of how strong had he became upon shaping his body perfectly for the Dragoon meister, Ryuuji couldn't seem to find and see himself making the least effort to. _I've..._

"Ryuuji, are you sure you're okay with this?" Though running out of patience now, Lightning wanted to make sure he wasn't against this. Upon doing so, things wouldn't be normal after.

The young master was quiet, only a pair of furrowed brows, matching with a glowing red face mixed with annoyance, and somewhat teary umber pigments were the answers Lightning received.

_He didn't want to?_ Lightning had the urge to pull back. Albeit already at the peak of his heat, he didn't want things to happen with only his side agreeing. After all, backing out is not a necessity upon proceeding because of various reasons--they both had to be sure, for this would change them profoundly. Getting the point of Ryuuji's silence, Lightning had moved his hips away from the other's entrance.

A muscular, but soft hands pulled his old-looking, slightly destroyed dirty-white shirt back, furrowed brows in a narrow now, expression remained. "K-Keep going...," he said, voice drifting, eyes shifting away.

_What the hell am I saying?! I should be stopping him...!_

Lightning's face had vividly brightened, excitement, as well as the smirk on his face, returned. "Hold onto the headboard, Ryuuji. I can't promise I wouldn't be giving you an extreme intercourse now that you've agreed to this," he made his apprentice turn away from him. The exorcist then used his right hand to assist his manhood for the upcoming domination. When it was ready, he placed both of his hands on both sides of Ryuuji's waist, pulled it down along with his hips moving forward to slam himself inside his student's.

Ryuuji had done his best not to call out his name nor moan anything of the sort by clenching his teeth or biting his under lip, everything to no avail. As Lightning was entering him, his mouth would open to a small extent, then immediately to the biggest, a moaning scream following as soon, eyes shooting open. His tight grips against the headboard of their bed loosen when the first slam had been made.

Lightning began pulling back, but stopping at the last layer of Ryuuji's insides, preparing to conquer him whole. Slaps against his butt cheeks were delivered, making the latter squirm, but never had he complained. Few squeezes were made, smirking devilishly thereafter, and slamming back inside him.

"Lightning...!"

Groans escaped the older man's lips upon feeling how tight it was inside; surely had no one else touched such a place. Hard poundings had been delivered to his student, the sounds of their bodies slamming against each other echoed in the place, the bed moving along theirs, not to mention the small squeaking sounds it would make as they moved.

Ryuuji's moans began to echo around Lightning's room. Interrupted mentions of the Arc Knight's name so he could breathe or pant had made Lightning more excited; it sent him the idea that his apprentice most probably was feeling good enough to prioritise moaning over saying something else.

Their movement came intense every minute; Lightning indeed had no plans on stopping, nor make Ryuuji search for air. It was their first time, but knowing himself, Lightning wasn't the guy for slow, romantic love-making. Having the small patience for numerous foreplays already was a huge difference.

Lightning would slow down, then speed his movement up after a second. He could feel his liquid releasing themselves inside the latter, but made sure he could still hold it back. Breathy moans rang in the area, Ryuuji's being more evident.

The exwire could feel Lightning pulsating inside him, and had it made him feel more heat. He removed his hands away from the bed's headboard, and placed them on both sides of his butt's cheeks, only to spread them open for the knight's easier access, but it was the farthest it could allow. Hazy mind, if not blank, was starting to take over Ryuuji's thinking, his hands dropping as if lifelessly on his sides after, face flat on the bed, minimal amount of drooling was escaping his lips. He felt good. "Lightning! Lightning!" The young one wasn't sure what to communicate; uttering his mentor's name was the only thing he could currently think of. Cumming came evident, though Ryuuji was less knowledgeable of his releases.

Lightning's pulsating treasure had grown bigger, allowing Ryuuji to know that he already was on his topmost heat; he couldn't prolong it longer. "Ryuuji!"

Soon, a surge of warm, sticky white liquid came inside him which made Ryuuji arch his head upwards to contain his feelings of allowing more naughty and dirty sounds leave his mouth. The young man's body then had plopped weakly on the bed, panting heavily, Lightning falling beside him after.

The Arc Knight, breathing slowly now after regathering his strength, turned to his apprentice and gave him his usual smile, which was returned with a small one.

Ryuuji didn't have the courage to, but he was sure.

_I love you, Lightning._


	12. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really sure why I did this, but I did it, anyways. x]
> 
> To be clear: Kawashima is, well... No one; not even an extra character in the whole Ao no Exorcist series. I wanted to try my capabilities to see how someone like Lightning could feel jealous around people, and this was the result. With his sarcasm, this is by far the best I could imagine him doing.

Simultaneous chatters of True Cross town's people rang around, mostly audible but incomprehensible. However of the noise, Ryuuji remained focused on Lightning's discussion related to their investigation.

"We have to meet these people and see if they're going tell us something interesting--" the knight's words had been thrown into mid-air when a unfamiliar voice had interrupted them.

"Suguro-kun!" Another student of the academy came, right hand waving high whilst bright expression was on his countenance.

Both Lightning and Ryuuji turned to the latter.

In a mixture of amazement and excitement, the young exwire took two steps forward to meet with the other. "You're that one from our English class, right?" Reconfirmed Ryuuji as he made sure he hadn't gotten the wrong name and person. "Kawashima?"

"Ah, I'm glad you remember!" Happily, he held Ryuuji's hand with both of his.

It had taken the latter aback, but made sure he didn't look as surprised. "What brought you here, by the way? You see, I'm kinda..."

Lightning, however, had his unseen unique shades of blue pinned at the connection they were showing whilst retaining the habitual curve on his lips.

A pair of gray-coloured hues glanced at the Arc Knight, head bowing in apologies as soon. "I'm really sorry, Arc Knight Lightning! This won't take long," sighed him before glancing back at his friend.

_He knows who Lightning is? I mean, in the cram school, people certainly know him. But in high school, I'm not really sure if..._

"I have decided to be an exorcist!"

His line had rung in Ryuuji's ears like a broken player. "Huh? But if you don't have the mashou, you can't be..."

"I've started studying them too. A mashou to see demons, right? I might not have the mashou yet, but I will get them soon! I'm doing all this to protect you, Suguro-kun!" Said him happily, though tints of crimson were evident on his cheeks.

The oldest male, whilst listening to their conversation, had lifted his phone to check the current time. He could sense where their talk was going, but should rather not let his assumptions get him.

Confused, Ryuuji furrowed his brows in question. "Me? Why?"

He took deep breath, then responded. "That's because...," the young man held Ryuuji's hand tighter but gentler, face moving closer to his. "I love you, Suguro-kun!"

"H-Hah?!" Exclaimed the teen in a comical manner. "We're both guys! Are you ins--"

_Pfft._ Lightning wanted to laugh, but he opted not to destroy such a moment.

He shook his head. "No, Suguro-kun. When you're in love, no matter his gender, his age, his situation, how much mess had happened, once a person loves another, he loves them for who they are, not because of their standing in life."

_He has a point but_ _I..._

"Well, I...," with his greatest, the male spoke, but words themselves refused to be expressed.

There was no way Ryuuji would tell him anything about his relationship with his mentor. Therefore, only was the way to make him stop was to honestly turn him down, but less idea how he could without sounding rude or appearing rather intentionally hurting him.

"Ah, well~"

A familiar voice reached both of the students' ears, allowing him to turn to him as quick as they could. "Master...?"

The young lad tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Yes, sir?"

"You see," though quite lacking in height, Lightning still swung his arm behind his tall apprentice. "We have lots of things in hand that we need to fix. Time is of the essence," pointed him out. "And we dare not to waste even a millisecond of it; unused time is another advancement for the enemy. If you will, Ryuuji should return to his work."

_Ryuuji? I heard they became master-apprentice not too long ago, but they seem to be already fond of each other. Could they probably be..._

Lightning didn't permit the stripling, however, to utter his remarks. His arm gently hooked itself under the exwire's jaw, and intentionally let him turn away. "Let's go, Ryuuji~"

The young teen slightly struggled, unsure of the reason why. "B-But, Lightning, he needs to..."

_Lightning? Sure. They call him Arc Knight Lightning. I've learnt about him as I did with exorcism, all for Suguro-kun. However, he should be showing respect... Aside that he's a high-ranked person in the world of exorcists, he also is Suguro-kun's mentor. Don't tell me my hunch is...?_

The Texan looked up at his student as he flashed against him the usual curve on his lips until Ryuuji had stopped himself from struggling. Albeit he looked lacking about physical strength, what Ryuuji felt was actually the opposite.

As they head out, the man placed his arms back inside his poncho, then looked over his right shoulder to check if the student still was there.

_He's looking at me... What about..._

Before the young man could respond with crooked brows and tilted head to the side to indicate he was puzzled of his purpose, another from Lightning had been expressed.

In his view, the knight only had been showing him a creepy smirk. It, alone, was scary enough, but being able to see a vague image of his right eye noticeable behind the fringes of his blueish-green hair added to the fear he felt.

The look seemingly was mentally telling him that Ryuuji was already taken. His guts would tell him that Lightning was pertaining to himself alone.

_They're...?_

He wasn't able to get a chance to ask, for they were already far, and that Lightning already had turned away from him, and glanced back to his apprentice.

Ryuuji glanced onto the papers, then to his mentor, which Lightning took as an opportunity and had stolen a kiss. "T-The hell was that for?!" Comically exclaimed him in annoyance.

Lightning only shrugged before leaning close to him, whispering, "I just want to tell your suitor that you're mine."

"I...!" He was unable to process his own response for a few seconds before he actually could. "I-I know! But stop doing that so randomly,  _and_ in public!"

Lightning smirked, chuckling beforehand. "What's the use of asking you first if you're going to agree anyways?" Asked him, smirking still.

"...!" This time, he did his utmost best to compose a better answer. "Like hell I'd say yes to everything! How many times do I have to tell you not to do this in public?! You're annoying!"

The Arc Knight laughed. "Sorry~ I just had the feeling I needed to tell your classmate that, you know. He should know his position," explained him in a more serious tone.

"...I get it. But then again, not in public, Lightning. We're trying to keep this a secret, and you doing otherwise isn't helping," muttered Ryuuji. "Don't do it again."

"Well, should I kiss you again, then?" Asked the American which surprised his student. "I mean, privately this time," an amused chuckle escaped his lips thereafter.

Ryuuji was in silence.

"No?" Confirmed Lightning. "But I just agreed to our conditions~" he shrugged which appeared more likely mocking the other.

"Fine, I get it! In private!" Responded Ryuuji. "That better be  _just_ kissing, Lightning."

"Eh? That's not a part of the condition~ And you do know well I can't promise that," said Lightning. "Where do you think hot kissing leads? Of course, se--"

"Shut up! Just shut up already!" Comically, Ryuuji shouted in hopes to stop his mentor from proceeding. "W-We'll do it after this. This is important--"

"A person's needs are important too," said him, grabbing his apprentice inside an unused building next. "This wouldn't take long; let's go~"

"I thought you said  **time is of the essence**?!" Reconfirmed him, but the knight opted to not listen. "Lightning!" Called him again, still no response. "Hey!"

There he was, struggling from his master's grips, only to no avail. The door before them shut close, a sound of lock from the inside ticked as well, indicating of the  _privacy_ Lightning meant.


	13. Explosion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part has been written as soon as Chapter 95 (RAW) was released. Therefore, translations of what Rin and his friends had done probably were not accurate. But then, again, to be clear, this isn't how the main story went. This only is an idea that needed to be released (like the previous ones, apparently).
> 
> I feel bad for Konekomaru...

"I won't let him be alone anymore!" There were only nothing but determination drawn all over the half-demon's face; though deemed to be demonic knowing his bloodline, his feelings were still humane. The latter turned away after. "Thank you, everyone, for worrying. But I will still go. So..."

Comically, the son of Satan shifted his gazes back to his friends, right hand making a few scratches on the back of his head as a sign of embarrassment and lack of information about the current situation--but was good enough to understand most, specifically the gist of it. "Uh, do you know where they took him?"

_If we actually do this, I could also..._

Snapping out from his own comical state, Ryuuji's crossed arms over his chest had been removed, opting to only rest them on both of his sides. "I have a plan."

In simultaneous manner, everyone turned to him.

 _Two young girls, dressed in the usual dark-coloured exorcist uniform, stood hidden from the sight of three nearby exorcists._   _"Okumura-sensei has been taken to the Underground Confinement Tower, according to the teachers," sighed her. "We'll_ _do as gorilla's plan."_

_Both_ _of the males present nodded their heads in agreement; determination, worry, and nervousness were felt altogether, but they would still proceed doing it so._

_"Now," commanded the child of Tamamo, allowing Ryuuji to use his bazooka and destroy a certain part of the building._ _"Go," told Izumo which Rin quickly responded with a nod, running away after._

_Seeing that Rin had successfully sneaked in, the purple-haired lass glanced at the remaining people._ _"In my count of three, you," she pointed at Ryuuji and Konekomaru. "Both of you will run. Ready?"_

_"Yeah," the young men spoke in unison._

_"1," a glance had been passed onto Konekomaru. "2," then towards Ryuuji. "3! Now!" Last was_ _Shiemi._

_Konekomaru and Ryuuji ran across, near the aforementioned building as fast as they could. "Unbelievable!" Annoyingly told Ryuuji himself. "I can't believe we're actually doing this!"_

_Destruction of property._  
_Theft of uniforms._  
_Obstruction of order of business._

_'We're totally criminals now!'_

_"Moriyama Shiemi, let's go," indubitably, the purple-haired exwire swung her left arm behind the aforementioned maiden, looking badly hurt_ _whilst the other made her utmost best to sound believable, though marked on her expression was nothing but lying._

_"Anyone, please help us!" Exclaimed her, Izumo was on her arms. "U-Um, the_ _demons attacked, and still are attacking...!"_

_Immediately, one of the experienced males turned to two more, and filed his order. "You two, go to that area. Now_ _."_

_It was headed soon; the two exorcists went to the place where Izumo and Shiemi came_ _whislt the young men continued_ _sneaking their way towards the tube-like building standing in the middle of the area, clung onto the wall, tried to catch their breath, then checked their surroundings._

__The old exorcists tended to the two seemingly wounded young females, and gently aided them to the safe area where treating should be done._ _

_"Damn it. Where the hell is Shima at times like this?!" Muttered Ryuuji under his breath, eyes in the shade of white, teeth evidently gritting._

_Konekomaru let out a forced laugh. "I'm pretty sure he's just around there, watching..."_

_"Anyhow, let's go. We still have a job to do," said the exwire, standing from his place after seeing that the exorcists were nowhere to be seen anymore._

_'We're already criminals, so we might as well do this.'_

Both parties decided to keep it down so people wouldn't get the idea that they were committing a crime. They continued marching in the hallways to find signs of their destination nearby.

"The meeting is tomorrow."

Voices from afar began reaching their ears; no matter how strong Konekomaru's huge urge to ask what it was, he only had decided to keep it down.

Onto the nearest wall, they clung once again, unintentionally overhearing their confidential conversation.

"Until then, cool your heels here."

"Huh? Osceola, you're leaving?"

_Osceola...?_

The responding voice sounded familiar to him; undoubtedly was it his mentor, Lightning.

"Isn't that...," Konekomaru's question had been put in an intentional halt before glancing towards the young master of Myoudha.

"Konekomaru," called Ryuuji using the lowest, audible tone for the other as possible. From his location had he also peeked to see if there were other people aside the mentioned Arc Knight.

"A Dullahan has appeared within the city of Rome, sowing panic... And I must take command. Yang is handling a horde of Gremlins in L.A. and the paladin has gone to exorcise a Yeti that has attacked the observation camp for the artificial Gehenna Gate."

Three high-ranked exorcists stepped outside as if they were waiting for someone.

_Three. How do I do this...?_

Without turning to his childhood friend, Ryuuji proceeded. "I'll sneak inside while you distract the exorcists by making a sound. Like that one we did earlier," before the cat lover could even react, the young man had already cut their conversation by saying, "I'm counting on you," then pushed forward.

The door swung wider, giving Ryuuji the idea that Osceola was about to leave, as well as having a perfect timing to get inside. He gave the slim monk a nod before crouching his way inside Lightning's cell.

_Clash!_

"What was that?! An explosion inside the building; is someone trying to break in?!" One of the high-ranked exorcists exclaimed.

Osceola turned to Lightning, mentally asking him if it was some kind of his plan again which the young-looking knight only responded by shrugging once. Sighing after, he went to where the explosion was upon locking his cell, followed by the three. Though currently handling a separate duty, an Arc Knight's assistance was greatly needed.

Tick.

The seemingly jail's door ticked close, letting Lightning rest his back on his sofa to wait in frente for his meeting tomorrow, until a familiar voice broke the silence inside.

"Master."

Lightning laughed to himself. "Look at that. I'm hearing things~"

"No," replied his apprentice in assurance, but voice was made sure to be low enough so others wouldn't hear him. "I'm here to get you out. I have the keys," the latter then removed his poncho for his mentor to see him.

_Ryuuji?_

"Even if you do that," the older man lifted both of his cuffed hands that came evidently on Ryuuji's view.

Without uttering much, Ryuuji pulled two sets of keys from his poncho's pockets, held his mentor's hands, and removed the magic canceller.

"How did...?"

"Don't ask; let's go," the young man headed towards the door to sneak his teacher out as well, but was put into an abrupt stop when their lips met each other. Two days weren't that long, but it was for them. Ryuuji kept the door key locked in his hands whilst it travelled on Lightning's back for an embrace, savouring the kiss.

"Bo--!" Konekomaru remained standing in his place, but his right hand was covering his lips--to not accidentally interrupt them from such a moment, and to prevent himself from expressing his surprise.  _When did Bon and Light-sensei...?!_

Lightning broke their kiss slowly, only to mentally tease the other by smiling at him. It wasn't responded by words, however, but with glowing pink slashes under his eye. "W-We need to go," he turned to the door to call Konekomaru's attention, but he was already standing there.

_Did he see us...?_

"U-Um, Bon, we, uh," uttered the slim monk.

 _Right. He saw us. I'll just explain stuff to him later..._   

"Shit," a muttering not from afar was comprehensible. "I lost the keys to Sir Light's cell! Do you have it with you?!"

"Huh, no!" Retorted another unfamiliar voice. "You were the one who locked the door! Did you forget it inside?!"

"Of course not! In order to lock the cell, I would need the key, idiot," replied the man. "There's no way I--"

"Instead of wasting time arguing, go fetch the key!" Angrily stated Osceola, teeth gritting in utmost annoyance.

"Y-Yes, sir!" The two responded in haste, marching back to Lightning's cell next.

The three exchanged gazes; Ryuuji breaking the silence between them. "We need to go, Konekomaru," repeated the genius.

"Ah, y-yes, the one with lesser guards is this way," explained the strategist before removing his pinned pair of eyes at Lightning and Ryuuji's entwined hands, then his feet dragging him ahead of the two in hesitation.

"Lightning has escaped?!" Not afar were echoing voices once again, but one was familiar--a woman's.

"Y-Yes, captain. When we returned, the door was open, there was an explosion in the same area. But inside the cell, we found this," a green, long coat had been shown to the former keeper of Hachirotarou.

 _A poncho?!_ Shura shifted her gazes onto the pathway, but unique-shaded eyes were particularly pointing at nothingness. "Those kids...!"

Ryuuji's party headed to a new direction, but it hadn't been that easy. Yet, they managed to get out, unscathed.


	14. Wagon Wheel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh. These two are killing me.
> 
> To those who want to listen to the two mentioned songs in here, these are the links!  
> Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvKyBcCDOB4  
> Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaSy8yy-mr8
> 
> If you have a Wattpad account, you can also see me there (www.wattpad.com/user/Blanchefleur)! Stuff would be more accurate in terms of updates, and there would be parts that aren't posted in here. Some things are edited for the readers' convenience, so what's shown here might not be the same in Wattpad.
> 
> Thank you for putting up with me!

It's that time again.

The Arc Knights, including Lewin Light, had been called out to an emergency meeting by the current paladin, Arthur Auguste Angel. It wasn't such a surprise, but Lightning had to rummage around the house to find the important things he unknowingly had scattered around.

Luckily, his apprentice's memory was reliable enough to remember the spots where he had placed his items on.

The door clicked close.

Ryuuji's last statement of bidding farewell to his mentor had echoed in the place, along with the deafening silence. The young man had battled with himself--apparently his  _motherly-like_ instincts kicking in. Upon settling on a fixed decision, the teen sighed as if relaxing himself.

_"I won't take too much time, mom. See you later~"_

"Okay," muttered him under his breath before wearing his white apron and bandana as a head start.

The immensely unbearable quietness had crawled up in his spine which Ryuuji allowed himself to be sucked in. His resting cellular phone had been disturbed by those manly, yet tender-textured fingers; specifically his thumb navigating around his screen for a few minutes.

_A little music would do, I guess._

There it began; a playlist of Rock American songs filled the area, its amazingly strummed guitar strings matched with the booming multiple hits on the drums created a wonderful melody.

Different levels of tones that perfectly had been synchronised to process good sounds had allowed Ryuuji to engulf his world with such a genre of music, head almost unnoticeably bobbing along with the flawless beats.

Putting effortlessly thrown books back into their respective shelves, placing pieces of papers on an evident wooden table, repositioning the sofa and chairs, re-pinning notes on the board, replacing the batteries of their defective wall clock, removing the sheet of November from their calendar, settled bags of series of books on a corner, and wiped the screen of their television and windows.

Now remained their dirtied floor.

The mop at the corner of the area had been disrupted from its sleep as Ryuuji had grabbed it off to start wiping their long-tiled ground clean.

Ryuuji had to polish the most used parts of their home several times because of the seemingly massive dirt which seemed to had been stuck on the floor for days now. Due to their busy schedule, the latter barely had the time to tend to such.

Thanks to the random playlist he had ticked open in Youtube, it had diverted him to another world which made him feel as if he wasn't taking too much time cleaning the house.

The teen shifted his body towards their sink which undeniably had been possessing piles of porcelain plates Lightning used, effortlessly had thrown in and left without much of a care yesterday when Ryuuji insisted they should eat something homemade.

_Sigh._

After Carrie Underwood's Before He Cheats, a lively, southern-sounding strumming of guitar strings fit perfectly for a farm life began catching his attention. Until it matched with the high-pitched but tender sounds of the harmonica and the soft sounds of the drums, Ryuuji knew he was about to enjoy such a music.

"Heading down south to the land of the pines. I'm thumbing my way into North Caroline. Staring up the road and pray to God I see headlights. I made it down the coast in seventeen hours. Picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers, and I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh, I can see my baby tonight."

_I feel like I've heard this somewhere..._ _Probably one of the contents of the random rock playlist I've played before._

Unbeknownst to his knowledge, the latter had begun singing along to Darius Rucker's attention-grabber song.

"So rock me momma like a wagon wheel, rock me momma any way you feel," sung him. "Hey, momma rock me. Rock me momma like the wind and the rain, rock me momma like a south bound train," said him whilst slightly swaying his head from and left right. "Hey, momma--"

"Rock me."

The familiar voice successfully reached his range of hearing and immediately allowing him to turn to the direction where it came from. Pigments of umber grew in surprise, the plate he was currently washing had been hidden behind.

At the mouth of the minimally opened wooden door was the small figure of his mentor standing on the side, body leaning against it whilst his arms were crossed over his chest. Wagon Wheel's instruments and lyrics itself had lowered down on its own accord, Ryuuji's ears focusing itself on whatever Lightning was about to tell him.

The young man witnessed the smirk form on the Arc Knight's lips which didn't put him at ease.

"Havin' fun?" Expressed Lightning with an unremarkable amused expression.

Lying to get away from the embarrassment wasn't his way, therefore had he just concealed such deep in him instead.

"Well?"

"It was... It was random, and it just pla--"

Lightning didn't wait for Ryuuji's explanation to finish anymore; thus, he made his way to the table where his apprentice's cellphone was resting. "Hmm," muttered him in definite amusement. "Let's see," mitten-covered fingers lifted the aforementioned gadget away from the table to take a closer look. At the screen it flashed: "Rock Country Songs Playlist."

Covered gazes shifted at the teen's direction, smirk didn't waver. "Country songs, huh," uttered Lightning. "It was  _random_ , I see. Let's buy that~"

Expecting the argument to be dying soon, Ryuuji released a sigh. Onwards, he was to explain to his mentor what actually happened, but was interrupted again.

"Why country? Is someone from, let's say, Texas you have taken a liking to?" Lightning's unchanging expression had made Ryuuji himself uneasy.

It sent little but noticeable pinkish colours of embarrassment on his cheeks, but his lips remained closed about the truth. Albeit so, the latter somehow had defended himself. "It doesn't mean it's south, it's just Texas."

Lightning dropped the gadget back onto the table, and walked closer his tall student. "That's why I'm asking. I want it to be clear," with just almost an inch away, the knight looked up at him, countenance definitely pointing out his suspicions of the lad's actions. "Why country?" Repeated him. "It's not random as you deem it so because it's the whole playlist that's country. I'm pretty sure when you search down a playlist in Youtube, it won't automatically play unless you press one and your auto-play button had been ticked 'yes'~"

Surely, Lightning was enjoying such teasing. Ryuuji's flushed expression was adorable enough for him to keep doing this; half, he wasn't expecting any answer whilst the other half was otherwise.

"Well, I... I thought it would help me fill out your temporary absence since I didn't know how long--"

"Really? I did say I won't be gone for too long," uttered the older male more. The silence Ryuuji had responded to him had given Lightning the urge to wrap his arms soothingly around the exwire's body before seemingly leaning into his ear to whisper: "Yeah, I know."

Ryuuji broke free, comical expression was indisputably evident on his face. "Then, why the hell ask?!"

"It's more fulfilling when I hear it come out from you yourself, you know~" contradicted him before shrugging.

"You didn't even let me finish! How the hell did that even make a difference?!"

The Arc Knight only released his usual laugh before flashing a serious but smiling mien towards the young man. "Ryuuji, I missed you."

"It wasn't even that long!"

"Says the one who used country songs to help himself of my presence while I'm go--"

"Shut up! Shut up!"

Lightning walked nearer the teen, only to plant a deep kiss on his lips which Ryuuji didn't retaliate on about that much. However, as it was taking quite long, and the latter was running out of breath, Ryuuji gently pushed the knight away from him.

"S-Stop...," mumbled him. The following words were even more inaudible but certainly comprehensible. "We might... We might lead to something else  _again_."

Lightning smirked. "You wanted it, right?"

"Ah, s-shut up!"

Argument had continued on; however, as soon as they finished their tasks at hand for the day, they had eventually found themselves locked inside Lightning's home, proceeding to their  _halted_ fun.

 


	15. Cake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday, Lightning!

**February 24, 2018**   
**4:03PM**

_Does he really not plan on celebrating this day? I know he has lots of work to tend to, but this comes once a year! And having a job as an exorcist, we wouldn't know if he could still celebrate it next year, or if he would still be able to..._

Simultaneous chatters of familiar voices halted Ryuuji's thoughts in amidst of the air. It was audible, but most weren't comprehensible. Documents on hand, the man took his time to wait for them at certain coordinates before attempting to minimally open his mouth to speak.

"Oh, Bon!" Greeted the slim monk whilst the other, specifically a pinkette, had given him only a seemingly joyous countenance. "Is your work do--" words had been thrown in the mid-air upon a pair of eyes landing at the documents Ryuuji had his grips on.

Albeit annoyed with the presence of the name of Ryuuji's mentor alone, Shima placed both of his arms behind his head as he showed their young master nothing but disinterest. "Eeh... Stop working and let's have fun, Bon!"

Casually ignoring his childhood friend, pigments of umber dropped at the smaller male. "Konekomaru," and eventually returning to Shima's. "Do you guys have free time today?"

Both of his friends said the opposite thing--no for the double spy, yes for the cat lover.

Seeing inconsistency with their answers, Ryuuji gave a conversational stare towards Shima to mentally ask him of the importance of this job he deemed so which was making him busy.

"Ah, well," effortlessly, the man shrugged. "I have a store to go to, so I could see if they have the current issue of po--"

"Konekomaru, what about you?"

Though had been placed at the side, Shima could be heard comically whinning and complaining that Ryuuji hadn't let him finish.

The cat lover forced out a chuckle upon witnessing what had just happened. However, the young man flashed his bright, vivid smile towards Ryuuji to assure him that he had lots of free time. "I do, Bon. Do you need something to be done?"

Shima crept behind Konekomaru to whisper to him, though Ryuuji could perfectly notice and hear them. "Koneko-saaan, tell him you're not free...!" This made the latter furrow his brows in annoyance, but kept himself in silence.

"Actually," Ryuuji gave himself enough time to muster his courage before responding finely towards them. "Could you guys do me a favour? It's not much."

"Sure!" Answered Konekomaru before Shima could decline. "What is it, Bon?"

Ryuuji's left hand carried all the papers whilst the other made its way inside his pocket, rummaged around to scoop his money up before counting by using his eyes and handing it over the slim male. "Buy me a cake. I would get it myself, but my hand's currently full. I appreciate your help."

"Don't worry about it, Bon! We'll just send you a text message once we get here. Good luck on your job!"

"A cake?" Whispered Shima. "What for? Don't tell me  _that_ man's making him work too much that Bon would want a whole cake for himself?!"

"I'm pretty sure that's not it, Shima-san...," uttered the other whilst making their way to the nearest cake shop they could locate. "Anyway, let's just do what Bon asked us to."

"Yeah...," replied Shima, undeniably forced into something he didn't wish to do.

\---

**February 24, 2018**   
**4:57PM.**

Bvvvt.

From: Lewin

I'm home~

Ryuuji, who was only standing at the dark aisle closest to where his mentor's house currently was located, ticked his cellular phone close, shoved it back inside his pocket before marching his way inside the aforementioned residence.

"Oh, welcome back, Ryuuji~" greeted the Arc Knight without much of a change of his rather habitual facial expression.

The lad lifted the box so Lightning could see it clearly. "This is for you," said him; albeit he looked like he was ready to devour people, Ryuuji sounded sincere. "Happy birthday."

"Wow~" A clear, foreign accent came out from the man's mouth as he had a grip of the box Ryuuji handed over. "Thank you, Ryuuji~ Now, let's see what this is."

"That's obviously a cake," retorted the other.

Lightning released a short laugh. "Who knows. This might be keeping an engagement ring~"

"In a box that big?!"

"Mhm, you know. Lovers tend to--"

"And why an engagement ring?!"

"Wedding ring, then~"

"You're not making any sense!"

The argument had been put to a short halt when Lightning didn't respond; undeniably, had he been stopping his breath as he pulled the food out from its cover.

There it revealed a pink, heart-shaped cake. Atop it were various colours of edible marbles, white ruffle-styled icing on its borders. It didn't had any written greetings on it, but only "from Ryuuji" at the bottom.

Seeing it had the lad's jaw drop open, eyes in a definite comical shade of clear white.

_W-What the hell_ _\--?!_

"Eeeeh~" muttered Lightning in amusement.

"No, it's not what you think it is, Lightning!" Both hands, in same aforementioned manner, gestured themselves in their middle matching how he negated his mentor's mutters. "I didn't know...! I...!" Ryuuji was unsure what to explain, but he wanted to clear the misunderstanding. However, at this point, he was losing the opportunity to.

Drowned in his thoughts earlier, he forgot to explain what the cake was for, which resulted to this.

Surprisingly, Lightning didn't decide to be annoying by responding finely towards his apprentice. "Yeah, I know~ I've been watching," after such was his usual laugh.

_"Oh, if it isn't Shima-kun and Miwa-kun~" uttered Lightning upon seeing the familiar faces of his students._

_Konekomaru gave him a bow of respect, matching it with a polite greeting. However, Lightning walked closer to Shima to whisper him something. Seeing only this made the pinkette fear the knight more._

_"What did Ryuuji tell you?" After, he stepped back to flash him a creepy-looking smile._ _It wasn't that he didn't trust his apprentice; Lightning had a hint, but he would rather not jump into random, hasty conclusions. Thus, had it resulted to him questioning the spy instead._

_Geh! "It was just about a cake, nothing else!"_

_A cake? "Ah, I see. He didn't need to go this far, though~"_

_"Huh? He never said it was for you or anyone," ended Shima._

"That's how I found it out," explained Lightning. Vivid unique colours of sapphire blinked in utmost seriousness; though pinned at the food, surely was his words were directed at the latter. "If you knew after buying the cake that it was in this shape, will you really not give it to me?"

"It's... It's kind of off but I still will. Besides, it was bought for you, anyway," quickly responded the lad.

Such a remark made the Arc Knight release a short laugh of amusement. "I see," then, eyes had been covered by the fringes of his blueish-green hair again as he shifted his gazes to his student's direction. "Thank you, Ryuuji."

This had captivated the young man's heart for the third time.

It sounded sincere, pure truth, no sarcasm as it would appear so. Small slashes of pink came noticeable on his cheeks, however tried his best to conceal them by not acting in an anomalous way.

"A-Anyway, I should get back to--"

Before he could end his statement, Ryuuji had found his lips locked by Lightning's. Widely-opened hues had clearly seen how he was savouring such a moment--he wasn't watching Ryuuji get flusterred, or entertain himself of the latter's embarrassed reactions. With that, the soon-to-be Aria did the same. But when Lightning slowly pulled back to break their kiss, Ryuuji continued his utterance, "...work...," tone fading as he was surprised of the other's actions.

 _I knew it... After all, I..._ Lightning answered Ryuuji nothing but a simple, "I love you, Ryuuji," with both his hands cupping the young man's face tenderly.


	16. Messages

It was safe to assume that cicadas had officially conquered the surroundings, for only their summer cries were echoing around. The heat perfectly matched the perplexed countenance of Lightning's apprentice, added with the quietness engulfing him.

"Still no text?"

Ryuuji placed his gadget on the table, and freely rested it there. He couldn't seem to decode how many times had it been since he began checking them. The latter would as well secretly peek at his phone screen in hopes that a notification would show up, yet to no avail.

_Sigh..._

"You look beat, Suguro. What's up?" Rin's confirmation had unintentionally been thrown into oblivion as the latter didn't respond.

Everyone exchanged looks, experessions of confusion were drawn in their faces.

"Bon?" Called Konekomaru, then followed by Shima, saying the same.

No answer.

"I guess he's busy," muttered the half-demon. "Let's give him the time he needs, and he  _might_ get better later," he grinned. "Let's go."

Bvvvt.

_A text message?!_

In a jiff, the young male effortlessly grabbed his cellular phone, and quickly checked what such brought him.

A chain message Shima sent.

Quickly so, he dropped it back on the table, look of disinterest was drawn on his visage.

It immediately faded off as he allowed himself to be devoured by his own thoughts again.

_I want to check up on him. Things are getting arduous in Vatican, but bothering him is the last thing I'd do. Lightning's abilities are the only thing they need to lessen the problems they're carrying; I've known from the start he'd leave every now and then, but..._

_I wonder if he's doing fine..._

"Gah!" Shima's cry of pain, upon seeing how Ryuuji easily ignored his message, echoed in the hallways of their cram school. "See? I told you! He's constantly checking his phone! He looks like he's waiting for something important," quoted he pinkette.

The other four stood on the other side of their classroom's wall, making sure that they'd hidden themselves well enough for Ryuuji not to notice.

Konekomaru was quiet for a few moments. "...Isn't it normal? I mean, being an apprentice of an Arc Knight, I'm pretty sure the messages he receives from him are important."

"You guys are overthinki--"

Shima comically and effortlessly interrupted Satan's son. "Overthinking? I'm not overthinking about it! Look at him, look at Bon! He looks like, well, a different person now!"

Izumo crossed her arms over her chest, crimson-shaded hues glancing away to her side. "Says the one who's actually a spy of two organisations."

Konekomaru didn't respond, except making an expression of his distinterest of Shima's future excuses.

"Koneko-san, not you too!"

"U-Um, Ryuuji-kun's...," Shiemi unintentional calls had successfully grabbed the attention of her friends. The young tamer pointed towards Tatsuma's son, from such a view it was obvious how his countenance had mildly changed.

Bvvvt, bvvvt!

"...?" Ryuuji quickly checked his gadget, and a pop-up notification appeared: Lightning sent a sticker! Tap to view.

An apple.

_Just an apple?_

It took him a few minutes of battling with his own thoughts.

_Should I_ _send back a_ _nother sticker?_

Both hands held his cellular phone gently whilst his thumbs were scrolling back and forth their previous messages, mind running out of ideas. Thumbs then fiddled with themselves.

_It feels like I left him hanging if I don't send him anything, which is kinda rude. I should send him something so he would know I've received his message._

Fingers travelled around his phone screen, searching for an  _appropriate_ thing to send his mentor something.

_Maybe, this would do._

Ryuuji tapped one of the installed stickers on his cellphone.

_I guess this is fine._

Footsteps outside their classroom had captured the five exwires' attentions. All of them simultaneously looked at the direction where it was coming from, only to see a familiar figure of one of their professors, light brown pigments came evident as well.

Lower First Class Kawanaka.

"What are you kids doing in here? Cram school is closed. Didn't your professors tell you?"

Silence shielded them, 'til Kawanaka found an answer to his own question.

"...Right. Kirigakure-sensei's been demoted, and Light-sensei's currently being summoned in Vatican," he scratched the back of his head. "Go home for now. We will inform you if the school is open again. Maybe, if we get to raise the number of exorcists as soon as possible, that's gonna be when."

The cue to move out of the building was when their professor did. Satan's son, Okumura Rin, peeked at the opening of their classroom's door to call out his friend, Suguro Ryuuji, yet only to find him gone.

"Suguro...?"

"Bon's gone?" Konekomaru's voice could be heard from the outside. "Where did he go?"

Ryuuji headed towards his mentor's home to organise papers, finish things he left for school, and study their researches. 005's missing page still was a huge mystery, Misumi's connection to the Illuminati, Mephisto's knowledge of the Blue Night. Things coming one after another was starting overwhelming.

"Who ripped 005's...," his little mumbles had been unintentionally halted when a familiar presence was standing at his doorstep.

"I'm back~"

"Master?! I thought you--?"

"Yeah, same. Good thing, it was solved as soon as timed permitted us," responded Lightning. "So," started him without waiting for his apprentice's comments. "What was that sticker about?"

"Sticker...?"

"Yeah," answered the man. "A gorilla eating a banana," described Lightning, a smirk was clearly running across his lips. "Were you implying something?"

"What do you...," it took Ryuuji a few seconds to absorb what Lightning wanted him to comprehend. Soonest so, he fortunately did. "It was... Well, I was hungry, and I thought it was appropriate to--"

"What kind of  _hunger_ were you feeling then, Ryuuji?"

"Hungry as in I wanted to eat something. I was starving," explained the latter.

"Starving of what?"

"Food--" upon realising what the Arc Knight actually meant, it sent him red slashes of embarrassment all over his face. " _That_ wasn't what I was trying to say! I meant hungry as in  _literally_  hungry!"

"Oh?" Answered Lightning, but he obviously wasn't buying Ryuuji's excuse.

"I-I told you, that's not it!"

"What kind of food, then?"

"I told you it's literally the food!"

The latter's exclaims echoed throughout the house which Lightning found amusing. Their argument went on, with both of the parties unwilling to lose at any moment.


	17. Last Night

Chirp, chirp.

Tired groans escaped his lips; his body faced flat against the fluffy bed covered in white sheet whilst his arms were wrapped around a pillow he trapped under him. Eyes still half-lidded, Ryuuji did his utmost best to shift his around body to face the ceiling. A nearby cloth, thinking it was his blanket, had been in his possession, and immediately used to wipe out his morning saliva.

_My body hurts... What time is it...?_

Beside the bed was a small wooden table where an alarm clock was resting. He turned to it only to be thrown in surprise. "Seven in the morning?! I need to go to sc--"

A pair of umber pigments dropped onto the cloth he was holding. It was his mentor's green checkered scarf; upon finding out so, Ryuuji stood in jolt, minimally pushing the scarf away from him.

_._ _..Shit! I used master's--!_

Next to him was Lightning, sleeping soundly.

_Master?! What happened..._ The latter trailed his own question off as he realised what good time they had last night.  _Ah, yeah. That_ _. No wonder my body hurts again. Still, I need to go to school._

Though the pain was evident, the teen still did in his prowess to stand, get ready, prepare himself for school, and leave. However, two arms on his waist had him locked, trapping him inside it when it closed, and had himself fly back to bed, his mentor embracing him.

"Lightning, let go! I need to go to school!" Demanded his student. Albeit he desired struggling himself off from the other's grips, the strength of his teacher had overpowered him, not planning to let him go in any minute.

"School?" Lightning chuckled. "You really are a hardworker, aren't you?"

Ryuuji flashed a blink of confusion. "...?"

"Today's Sunday, Ryuuji. No crams, nor academics," cheaply responded the Arc Knight. "Did you feel good that much last night you forgot it's weekend?" Amused, the man said sarcastically.

Immediately, red tints of embarrassment crawled on his face; though it wasn't vivid, Lightning was surely aware of what his apprentice was currently feeling. "I didn't...! W-Well...," muttered Ryuuji. "...at least, do some investigations or something," it came off as an excuse, but he would resort to that if he had no classes, anyhow.

"Didn't I tell you? When my thinking reaches an impasse, I try to sleep. When we tackle such a mess head-on, we'll go nuts!" Explained the teacher, mentally shrugging. "You gotta slack off sometimes."

"But what you did last night wasn't  _sleep_!" Comically exclaimed Ryuuji in annoyance.

"It is close to getting sleep, you know~ You get tired, eventually you fall asleep. Not just that, you felt good too," said Lightning, making his apprentice turn to him this time. "Didn't you want it, Ryuuji?"

His mentor's sapphire hues staring at him were making him powerless, the feeling of embarrassment was growing, he could feel his mouth trembling. "It's... It's not like that. I just... I'm just worried that whenever we slack off, we're making Illuminati intentionally go ahead of us. Knowing how strong they are, and how advanced the technologies they use, I couldn't seem to put myself at ease."

"Ryuuji," called Lightning as he placed both of his hands on his apprentice's cheeks. "This is why I told you to take a breather."

Silence.

"I'm sorry," responded him, head downcast.

Lightning, seeing this as a perfect cue, embraced his apprentice. It wasn't like him, but he knew something like this would be ones people would need when they're down.

Surprisingly, it gave Ryuuji warmth, an assurance as if mentally telling him that whatever would happen, the Arc Knight would stand by him whilst greatly aware of their pact back when they entered the deepest of the asylum.

"About the scarf..."

It alerted Ryuuji, making him loosen his grips off from a pair of arms seemingly swathed around him. Instead of saying anything, he kept quiet and waited for the next statements of Lightning.

"Where was it? It's my favourite scarf, though. I'm planning to wear it today at the meeting too," stated him before one of his arms came searching around. "Oh, here--"

Snatching it away was the next thing he did--it was a quick move Lightning wasn't able to counter, then clutched the item after intentionally hiding it behind him. "I'm... I'm going to wash this...!"

"Huh?" Responded the other in confusion. "Ah, you don't need to! No one would notice, anyw--"

"No!" Insisted the exwire. "I'll wash this today!"

"Eh? But I really want to wear 'em today...," explained the Arc Knight next, his voice unchanging but his choice of words made his apprentice know that he's sad.

"Um, I...," to release the guilt he had been keeping, Ryuuji gathered his courage to tell his significant other the truth. "Earlier, when I woke up... I had, well,  _that_ on my face, and out of the blue, I grabbed your scarf, and...," his words came off chappy, uncertain how to explain something embarrassing.

As he turned to Lightning to sincerely apologise for what he did, his brows furrowed in annoyance upon seeing the countenance of his mentor.

"Pfft," muttered the young knight.

"Nothing is funny here, Lightning!" Quickly countered Ryuuji before he could even begin speaking. "Just use mine for the moment; I'll wash this."

\---

With Lightning's  _fashion sense_ , people who had known him never questioned the way he donned himself.

His usual poncho, seemingly inspired by Mexican designs, was being worn, along with a matched colours of red and yellow stripe-patterned scarf.

"Lightning, you just changed your scarf yesterday, right? Knowing you, it'd take days before you replace it with a new one," said the clueless symbol of the sword.

Effortlessly, the Arc Knight showed a shrug. "Stuff happened; I had to change~"

"I see," ended the paladin as he sat on the provided seat for him inside their meeting room.

Osceola, another Arc Knight, stood before his co-exorcist. "With an  _uncalled for_ design, Lewin?"

_Pfft._ "It doesn't matter. As long as I can wear something, right?"

The huge man sighed, not even trying to engage in a verbal argument as of the moment with someone as sarcastic as Lightning. "The meeting's about to start," said him, heading to his place next.

"Yeah, one moment."

Unsure of its purpose, Osceola had let him anyhow.

Ryuuji's phone vibrated, slightly making him jump in surprise from washing his and Lightning's clothes, including the scarf he dirtied. Thinking his cellphone alerting him held something important, he cleaned his hands and grabbed his gadget from his pocket.

From: Lewin

Your scarf smells nice~ We used this to tie you up, and bite when you were screaming loud last night, right? I didn't know you planned all this. You're a naughty boy, Ryuuji~

_Wh--?!_

Dark images of what had happened immediately flashed back in his mind, making his face grow red.

Quickly, he typed back, merely to defend himself.

From: Ryuuji

Shut up!

Lightning laughed, yet made sure the members of the meeting didn't notice. He did it on purpose, to annoy the latter, but surely Ryuuji's scarf would help the Arc Knight get through the day without the presence of his apprentice.

But he was growing impatient, indeed.


End file.
